


The Rain is Gone

by new_mexicunt



Series: Wedding Crashers [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Canon Rewrite, Canon Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Rimming, Season/Series 01, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:34:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29670111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/new_mexicunt/pseuds/new_mexicunt
Summary: What if Magnus had been kidnapped by Valentine before Alec's wedding with Lydia?  What would Alec have done?(second piece to the "Wedding Crashers" series, but you can read it as a stand-alone)
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Wedding Crashers [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2177298
Comments: 32
Kudos: 123





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. I tried not to reference the first story in this series so that you can enjoy it on its own. 
> 
> That being said, I encourage you to go read it. Partly because I'm shamelessly plugging myself, but partly because it establishes a good amount of intimacy between Alec and Magnus that we didn't really get to see in the show. 
> 
> Also, please, for the love of all that is holy, could someone beta read for me? I'm having fever dreams over my dialogue.

Magnus awoke to the sound of his ringing doorbell. He shook his head to clear the last remnants of whatever dream he’d been having before turning to check the time on his clock. 

5:30 a.m.

 _Who the fuck makes a house call at 5:30 a.m.?_ Magnus thought murderously. He shuffled out of bed, throwing on a pair of loose, silk pants and a matching silk robe. He didn’t bother with hair and makeup. He didn’t plan on letting the guest stay longer than a few seconds tops; he didn’t care _who_ was dying. Magnus was tired and hungover and trying desperately not to think about a certain shadowhunter’s wedding in six hours. He needed a cocktail, not company. However, all thoughts of self-pity went out the window as soon as he opened the door. 

“Dot?” He asked in surprise, reaching out to catch her in a warm, tight embrace. “Dot, oh dear, come on girl, come lay down.” Magnus dragged her limp body over to the couch and he set her down on the cushions, gently. She immediately leaned back against the armrest and closed her eyes. 

Dot had stood on the other side of the entreeway, practically sagging against the doorframe before Magnus scooped her up into his arms. Her pale skin was covered in deep, black veins. Her eyes were bloodshot with large purple bruises covering the skin underneath. Her hair was limp and sticking to her forehead where she had little beads of sweat collecting across her temple. She looked sick and weak; Magnus’s heart ached for the woman. 

“Dot,” he began softly, brushing her hair back from her forehead, “darling, who did this to you?” 

Her eyes opened then, staring back at Magnus with an empty, glazed look. 

“Who do you think, Magnus?” She whispered bitterly. 

The guilt consumed him. He remembered, then, when she first came to him at Pandemonium. She had begged Magnus to lend her some of his magic, but he had been so focused on getting the warlocks into hiding that he couldn’t spare her the help. And now, she was reaping the benefits of his spiteful decisions. 

“Oh Dot,” he said, bringing her into a warm, tight embrace. “I’m so sorry, dear. I’m so, _so_ sorry. I should have helped you when I had the chance. I should have-” His words broke off then, eyes widening as he felt the quick, sharp pain of something jamming into the side of his neck. Before he had a chance to react, his arms began to feel heavy and his eyelids began to droop. He felt sluggish and weak as he felt himself slump into Dot’s embrace.

“What-” He managed to get out. The words he was trying to say felt like syrup on his tongue. “What are you-” 

“Yes.” Dot agreed, shifting Magnus so that she was supporting the weight of his torso with both arms. “You should have. But you didn’t.” 

Magnus didn’t have much time to think about her words after that. His eyes finally closed all the way and his body sagged against his will. The last thing he heard was another set of footsteps approaching from the front door before he blacked out completely. 

***

Alec couldn’t breathe. 

Not because Lydia was so beautiful walking down the aisle that it took his breath away (she _was_ beautiful, but Alec was too far gone to notice). Alec couldn’t breathe because he felt like he was caught in the crossfire of an executioner, and he was the one who had loaded the gun.

He stared blankly as Lydia approached the dais, and again as she spoke her vowels. He couldn’t hear anything aside from the dull thud of his rapidly beating heart. When Lydia went to wrap the Branwell heirloom around his wrist, he felt as though he might throw up. The only thing anchoring him to reality in this moment was the strong, warm hand of his parabatai pressed up against the small of his back. He was pretty sure Jace meant for it to be a reassuring gesture, but to Alec, it was a lifeline. 

Just as Lydia was about to seal their fate with a marriage rune, the doors near the back of the ballroom slammed open and a young woman in nursing scrubs was running up the aisle. 

In typical shadowhunter fashion, one of the Clave members stood with a seraph blade pointed directly at the woman’s heart. Maryse followed quickly after, bringing out her own weapon and standing between the (nearly) newlyweds and the intruder. 

“ _Please_ ,” the woman begged; she wasn’t even paying attention to all the swords jammed in her direction, “please I need- I just need-” she looked around frantically, clutching what looked like some sort-of silk garment to her chest. “Please, I-” Her eyes locked onto Alec then, relief flooding her expression. “Alec!” She cried to him, trying to push past the other shadowhunters, but to no avail. There were enough people over the initial shock now that she was being kept a few yards back. “Alec, please, it’s Magnus!”

Alec stared at her in wide-eyed confusion. He had never met this woman before in his life. 

Maryse intervened before Alec could even begin to collect himself. 

“Warlock,” she warned, cold eyes sweeping over the intruder with obvious disdain, “how did you get past the wards?”

Catarina hated to waste any more time than necessary on racist diplomacy, but if she was going to get anywhere near Maryse’s son, she knew she needed to slow down. 

“My name is Catarina Loss.” she began, tearing her eyes from the groom to face Maryse head-on. “I’m good friends with the High Warlock. I am familiar enough with his magic that the wards granted me access to your institute.” She finished, turning her gaze back to Alec. “Please,” she begged again, “he’s been taken and I can’t do this alone. Valentine-” she stopped, taking a deep breath before continuing, “Valentine has him. I tracked him as far as the edge of the river, but I… I lost him after that.”

And suddenly, Alec could hear everything. He heard Izzy’s shocked gasp and the quiet murmur of questions running through the onlookers. He heard the muffled movement of a few on-call shadowhunters making a bee-line for the ops room and the ruffle of Lydia’s dress as she turned to look at him in concern. Alec heard all of these things, but the sharpest, clearest sound to pass through his ears was the soft, warm voice of Magnus Bane. 

_You’ve unlocked something in me._

_“No!”_ He cried, grasping at Jace’s arm like it was the only thing holding him together (it probably was). “No! Cat, he can’t-” His wide eyes searched her face for some indication that this was some sort-of sick joke. “No...” It was a plea this time, coming out softer. More broken. He received no reassurance from Magnus’s friend. “Please, Cat, I just had him, I-”

“Alec.” His mother replied, sharply, turning to shut him up with a cold glare. He was already giving away too much, and she was so close to having the Institute back under their control. She wouldn’t lose it now.

She whisked back around to confront Cat once again. “Mrs. Loss,” she began coolly, “While we are sympathetic to your cause, we are no closer to finding the location of Valentine than you. There is a process for these types of emergency situations, one of which involves knocking on the front door.” She finished, turning to the crowd. “If everyone would please remain where they are, we will finnish the ceremony while my husband, Robert, will begin allocating a few shadowhunters to write up a reque-” 

“No.” Alec cut her off, finally gathering his bearings enough to understand what she was trying to do. “No, I’m going.” He said, shaking Jace’s arm off before storming towards Catarina. He knew he wasn’t thinking anything through, but everything else in his life had been so meticulously planned and look at where that got him. Before his mother could stop him, Izzy spoke up. 

“I actually,” she cleared her throat, and looked over at her mother, resolutely, “may have a lead on Valentine.” 

“Izzy,” her mother seethed, “now is not the time.”

“No!” Clary spoke up, shoving her way to the center of all the chaos ( _per usual_ Alec duly noted). “No, Izzy, if you have a lead, we need to go now!” She looked around frantically, wondering why nobody else was latching onto the information. 

“Well…” Izzy trailed off, looking to Jace for reassurance. When he nodded at her in encouragement, she turned back towards the room. “It’s not concrete, but I may have found coordinates of a large glamour…” 

“Okay.” Alec breathed, using the strategy to calm his nerves and channel his energy into something other than overwhelming guilt. “Okay, Izzy, Jace, you both go grab whatever you need from the armory. Simon, you can come if you’d like, but you need to stay close to Clary. We won’t have enough manpower to look out for her the entire mission. Izzy, I-”

“That’s enough.” Boomed the strong, sturdy voice of the Inquisitor. Everyone turned to her, but she only had eyes for Alec. “I’ve had it up to _here_ ,” she punctuated her statement by raising a flattened hand beneath her chin, “with you Lightwoods. This is a low-level mission. You all know this. So,” she turned slowly, eyeing each of the Lightwood children with a cool, sharp glare, “there is no need to throw this institute into another bout of chaos. Isabele, if you have information on the whereabouts of Valentine Morgenstern, then I suggest you get started on an official report immediately after this wedding. Mrs. Branwell, you’ve sent out invitations to nearly every high-level official in Alicante; I’d hope, for your sake, that you see this thing through. And you,” she ended, turning back to Alec, “I don’t know, and frankly, I don’t care what that warlock is to you. However, _your_ job, Mister Lightwood, is not to save every downworlder that loses sense of their magic. _Your_ job is to set an example for the people of this institute. And, quite frankly, you are doing a terrible job of it.” 

For one moment, everything was quiet. 

“My job,” Alec began slowly, “is to protect people.” 

“Yes, Mister Lightwood,” she cut him off, “logically.” 

Alec snapped. 

“ _Logic_ ,” he replied, bitterness seeping into his voice and sharpening his tone, “is what got us here in the first place. _Logic_ as what made me leave a vulnerable warlock alone and undefended last night. _Logic_ is what brought me here to this ballroom this morning. And now, Madam Inquisitor, your _logic_ is going to kill the only man that has ever tried to show me what it means to be good and kind and worthy of any sort-of leadership. I’m leaving.” He turned to Jace and Izzy. “I understand if you can’t do this with me, but I thought, perhaps, given everything I’ve done for Clary, I might be able to ask-”

“Of course.” Jace replied, unwavering. “Where you go, I go.” He gave Alec, a tight, reassuring smile. 

“Hermano, you’re finally on the right side.” Izzy winked, stepping off the platform and heading towards the ops center. 

“We’re coming too!” Clary piped in, dragging Simon by the cuff of his jacket after Izzy. “Magnus has done everything for us. This is the least we can do.” 

“I could have your runes stripped for this.” The Inquisitor called after them, turning the heads of each of the Lightwood children. “You are directly disobeying a Clave order.” 

“Oh, shove it.” Lydia replied, making the majority of the room turn to her with a gasp. She was already pulling the braids out of her hair and snapping it up into a sleak, battle-ready ponytail. Alec was staring at her with eyes so wide she feared they might pop out of his head. She turned to him, making sure to have his complete attention, before saying what she should have told him the moment he proposed. 

“Alec.” She started, reaching for one of his hands. “I don’t know your motivations.” She breathed, squeezing his hand in gentle reassurance, “Or maybe I do.” She gave him a painfully knowing look. “And while I’m not sure that you do, I know that you’re doing the right thing. So just think about doing that for right now, okay?” She finished, patting his hand before dropping it to turn back, facing the Inquisitor once again. “Do whatever you’d like, but we’ll see what the Clave has to say about stripping our runes after we come back with Valentine’s dead body.” And with that, she turned to follow Clary and Simon out to the ops center. 

“Alexander…” Maryse tried once more to stop her son, but before she could get another word in, he turned to the Inquisitor. 

“When this is over, I only ask that you punish me and me alone.” He said, looking at her as though he dared her to respond. He then, finally, turned to his mother, putting on a brave face to stand up to the woman who had been his strength for so many years. “I will not carry on your legacy, mother. I will not make your mistakes, nor will I try to salvage this family’s name because of the decisions you’ve made. I see now that the only mistake I’ve made this evening is trying to clean up the mess that you and dad created. And look where that landed me.” He stopped, feeling the cold tendrils of guilt trying to work their way into the immense relief he felt at finally confronting his mother, but he shoved them down. He knew the guilt was a knee-jerk reaction to the loathing and self-hatred that had been festering in his heart for years. The shame for being a man that the Clave and his parents would never want, not completely. 

But, Magnus had wanted him. Magnus had _begged_ for him. 

With that thought in mind, Alec turned to follow after his siblings and formulate a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, that was dramatic. 
> 
> I promise it gets more introspective and romantic in later chapters. My little bird brain just can't handle this many people in one chapter full of dialogue. 
> 
> I respond to every comment. They are my reasons to live.
> 
> I'm on twitter: @solid_quirks


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Strategy. Boring, but necessary.

Once everyone had changed out of their formal attire, they were all centered around a large map of Manhattan in the middle of the ops room. Lydia had recruited a few more on-duty shadowhunters after the wedding. Raj, a young shadowhunter girl named Sarah, and a visiting Clave member, Helen, were joining the mission. While Alec hated to think that he was bringing repercussions onto three more shadowhunters, he also knew they could use all the manpower they could get. 

“Okay.” Izzy began, once she had everyone’s attention. “As soon as we discovered that tracking runes weren’t working on Valentine, I began to suspect that we’d be dealing with a large body of water. My suspicions were confirmed when Magnus informed me that the warlocks couldn’t track him either. Now, I understand that “a large body of water” encompasses two thirds of the Earth, but I believe we can narrow it down to the New York shoreline. The reason I say this is because, while the Spiral Labyrinth can’t track Valentine, they _can_ keep tabs on portal transportation. This means that, unless Valentine has been enjoying long, economy class plane rides over to New York every few days, he’s parked nearby. Therefore, I got ahold of the navy port routes along the East Coast and tracked their cargo movements over the past few months. You can see here,” she pointed to the red, dotted lines on the map, “are the trajectories of the original cargo ships and other naval operating systems. However, here,” she pointed at the yellow lines now, “Are their pathways over the past two weeks. While they are nearly identical in their pathways, there’s a small deviation here.” She pointed to a coordinate where there were an abundance of red lines, but none that were yellow. In fact, Alec noticed immediately, the yellow lines seemed to almost curve around the coordinate… 

“It’s a glamour.” He confirmed, looking at Izzy in awe. “Izzy, you’re a genius.”

Izzy beamed, but returned to her formal manner immediately. “It was just a hunch, but luckily one I could observe for myself. A few nights ago, after late-night patrol, I hired a fishing boat to take me out to this spot for a night fishing expedition-” 

Simon cut her off:

“Night fishing?” He giggled. “Were you still wearing your signature stilettos?” 

“Simon…” Clary gave him an exasperated sigh. 

“No, it’s okay.” Izzy continued with a smirk. “For your information, Simon, I _do_ own “normal people” clothes.” She teased, using air quotes to emphasize her point. “But, as for your question: yes, I was still dressed for the nines.” She winked before turning back to the map. “Anyway, we never caught my fish because we never even went _near_ the coordinates I gave him. He completely bypassed this point on the map and then seemed to be really confused when I asked him about it. He was pretty embarrassed to have veered so far off the mark.”

“So,” Jace confirmed, “you think Valentine’s hiding out at these coordinates?” He said, pointing at the deterred location on the map again. 

“It’s the best I’ve got.” Izzy shrugged, turning to Alec. 

“It’s great. Izzy, this is really good investigative work.” Alec said, giving his sister a small smile. 

“Okay, so what’re we waiting for?” Jace asked, already gearing up to head out. “Let’s get a portal going.”

“Not so fast.” Alec slapped a palm against his chest, keeping his parabatai from leaving the table. “As much as I’d love to go in, guns blazing, we need a plan. We don’t know how big this boat is or how many people Valentine has working under him. If we have any chance at savi-” Alec cleared his throat, “at getting Valentine, we’ll need to lure him out.” 

“How do you plan on doing that?” Jace asked, eyeing his parabatai wearily. 

Everyone turned to Clary. 

“Ooohh no.” Jace said, making a subconscious move to stand in front of her. “No way. Not happening.”

Clary caught on quickly. 

“No that’s-” she started, forcing Jace aside, “that’s perfect! He’d come out if he thought I’d come to join him.” She beamed, looking at Alec for confirmation. 

Alec, on the other hand, was not sold on the idea. 

“No,” he shook his head, “Jace is right. That’s suicide. We’re not just sending you out to get killed.”

“No, this could work.” Izzy spoke up, looking over at Clary in approval. “We send her out on a boat to talk to Valentine. Surely, he’d come out to speak with his own daughter. Especially if she’s alone. _Then_ ,” she hurried on, cutting off another opposition from Jace, “in the meantime, Alec and Jace can portal _beneath_ the boat. Even if Valentine has wards and envoys, none of it can be spotted if you guys are under water.”

“Wow. Great plan Izzy, uhh, just one thing:” Jace deadpanned, “we’re not very useful if we’re drowning.”

“Cool it, pretty boy. We have another warlock on stand-by in the institute contacts. I know there’s an underwater breathing potion that, while not cheap, will work for up to three hours.” 

“Cool!” Simon piped in again. “You guys’ll be like Harry Potter! You know, like in the fourth movie? When he battled all those mermaids and saved that hot, french chick?”

“Why would we fight the mermaids?” Jace asked him seriously. 

“Wait, what? There’s actual merma-”

“We’re getting off topic.” Alec cut in coolly. “Izzy, while I hate the idea of sending Clary into _another_ death trap, I think this is a solid plan. While we take care of Valentine, the rest of you stand-by until you get the all-clear from us to portal to the exact coordinates of the ship. We need to make sure that cutting off the head of the snake scatters the rest of the circle followers.”

“You think his wards will go down if he dies?” Lydia asked, a bit weary. 

“I think the circle members will do anything to get off that ship as soon as they see their leader’s been killed. I also think the rest of the Institute will take us more seriously if they’ve been informed that we actually killed Valentine. In the meantime, just be prepared to dodge escapees. We don’t have enough people on this mission to go up against the Circle. Remember, we’re only there for hostages. We can worry about rounding up circle members later.” He finished, looking at everyone in the eye before finally landing his gaze on Izzy. 

“Izzy, call up the warlock and have the potion delivered within the hour. Pay whatever they want. Lydia, I need you to stay here, with the warlock, on stand-by until you have the “Okay” from either Jace or myself. If you can, try to recruit other Clave officials. We’re going to need a sturdy, political platform to stand on once all of this is over. Clary,” He said, turning to face the young, red-headed girl, “Jace and I will take you out to the boat dock. Rent one of the cheap motor boats. The Institute will provide you with the proper funds. Can you drive a boat?”

Clary’s face fell. 

“Uhhh…”

“I can!” Simon butt-in once again. “Yah! My grandpa used to take me out on the Jersey Coast every summer and he’d let me drive because he said I wouldn’t shut up unless he finally just let me-”

“ _Okay_ ,” Alec cut in, impatiently. His calm demeanor was dwindling by the minute. “that’s great, Simon, but you’d blow our cover immediately.” 

“No,” Lydia remarked, “no, this… This could work. I mean, surely Valentine would get a little suspicious if Clary came completely alone, right? Wouldn’t it make sense for her to bring her best friend along?” 

Alec stared Simon down, hard, before turning to nod at Lydia.

“You’re right. Good call. Simon, go with Clary to rent out the boat.” 

“Ahem…” Clary cleared her throat, pointing towards the window, where sunlight was still peaking through into the ops center. “I’m not sure that’s possible yet.”

“Right.” Alec nodded solemnly. He knew it wasn’t the vampire’s fault, but he still hated to waste another minute letting Magnus be held hostage and Angel knows what else. 

“Right, at sunset then. In the meantime,” he turned to Jace, “we can hash out the details of our rescue. Does everyone else understand their role in this?” He asked, giving everyone one last once-over. When he heard no disagreements, he gave them all a nod before finishing with:

“Remember. Diversion is the key here. I don’t want anyone getting hurt. Don’t approach the circle members unless absolutely necessary. We are only there for hostages.” He nodded again, swallowing thickly before getting out the last part. “And… and thank you.” he spoke, softer this time, as he made a point to look everyone in the eye. “I know that none of you have to be here, but you are and for that… I’m so, so grateful.” He finished, pressing the palm of his hand against his thumb in a nervous gesture. 

“Alec,” Izzy said, approaching her brother and capturing him in a warm hug, “of course. Always.” 

And for a brief moment, Alec allowed himself to feel the overwhelming grief of losing Magnus so easily. His entire chest ached thinking of the pain that Magnus must be enduring right now. He buried his face in his sister’s hair, taking a deep, shaky breath, before standing back to assess his team. 

“We can do this.” He reassured them, new-found resolution burning in his eyes. “We can end this. Here. Tonight. Just stay calm and remember your roles. Remember why you’re doing this.” 

“For you.” Izzy spoke up, kindly. 

“For my mom.” Clary piped in. 

_For Magnus._ Thought Alec, heading out of the ops center to gear up for the mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Romantic heroism to come. Stand-by.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know. I'm rushing the plot a bit. I just really want them to bang. 
> 
> I added some sentiment to this chapter to keep you on your toes.

Once Simon and Clary were out on the water, Jace and Alec stood by at the Institute, waiting for the “Okay” from Simon. While Jace and Alec racked their brains for how Clary was supposed to stealthily get a fire message back to them, Simon had suggested a text message. Alec was loath to admit how silly he’d been for not thinking of that in the first place. Once Izzy confirmed that there’d be cell service out on the water, the plan was all clear. Not to mention, they could now keep tabs on Clary via google maps. Alec had to admit: sometimes the mundane way made a lot more sense. 

They all agreed that if Simon and Clary were in one place for more than ten minutes and a text hadn’t been sent out, Alec and Jace would make an automatic appearance. 

There was never any need to call the back-up warlock. Catarina agreed to portalling the shadowhunters once she’d been informed of their plan. Additionally, she suggested they allow her to rummage around Magnus’s apothecary for the breathing spell before hiring on another warlock to concoct the potion. The underwater potion was a popular request and she knew Magnus tried to keep an abundance of it on-hand for quick client meetings. 

Sure enough, she portalled back with enough potion to last them each at least ten hours.

As Jace and Alec waited for Simon’s text, and Izzy tracked their movement on the large ops screen, Catarina shuffled close to Alec before tapping him on the shoulder, indicating with a small nod towards the corner of the room that she wanted to talk. Alec told Izzy to alert him immediately if anything changed, before joining Cat near the back of the room. 

“I wanted to give you this.” She said, reaching into her coat pocket and pulling out a small, wooden box with a black ribbon wrapped around it. There was a slip of parchment shoved between the box and the ribbon. “I found it while looking for the potion. I think it… well, I _know_ it’s for you.” She spoke, giving him a small, pained smile. “I hope you don’t mind my peeking, but when I saw it next to the coat rack I thought… well. Nevermind. Just open it.”

Alec took the small box from her hands, cradling it like he would a child. He removed the paper to untie the ribbon, and when he opened the small lid, his heart stopped. 

It was a small assortment of arrowheads, all looking to be forged from pure adamas. They were priceless. 

Cat watched him try to catch his breath before continuing:

“There’s more,” she started, reaching out to wave a hand over the box. Alec watched the arrowheads briefly flicker blue before returning to their natural, silver coloring. 

“Magic…” He breathed out, looking up at her with tears brimming the corners of his eyes. 

“Yah,” she whispered, looking up at Alec before turning back to grab the paper Alec had set aside when opening the box. “It feels to me like accuracy spells, along with a few protection spells.” She smiled weakly at him before adding: “Sentimental old fool.” She said it fondly, before handing Alec the little slip of paper. “There’s a note too, Alec.” 

Alec opened the parchment, and if his heart wasn’t already broken, Magnus was sure to make quick work of that with the little note written in loopy, elegant handwriting in the center of the page. 

_Think of me when you shoot your arrows._

Alec brought a fist to his mouth to keep the sob from escaping his lips. While the tears never fell, Catarina watched something break in the young man’s eyes. 

With shaky fingers, Alec closed the lid of the box before placing it tenderly inside his own pocket. The note, Catarina noticed unwittingly, was kept clutched in the palm of his hand. 

“Cat, I… I-”

“Alec!” Jace called, turning both their attentions back to the small group centered in the ops center. “It’s Simon. We need to go.” 

Cat watched the resolve harden within Alec’s eyes before he straightened his shoulders and turned back to face the group. He returned to the screen with Cat before directing Jace to take his allotted amount of potion, doing the same himself. When he knocked back the vial, he nearly gagged. The stuff tasted like seaweed and raw fish. He brought the glass back down with a wrinkled nose while Jace began to cough dramatically. 

“Good God, this shit better work.” Jace rasped in between coughs. 

Cat snorted before turning to open the portal for them. Before they stepped through to the other side, Alec turned back to the group. 

“Remember,” he said with a stern expression, “don’t make any moves until my signal.” He gave them all one last look before turning to be doused in water. 

*** 

Simon wasn’t really sure where it went wrong. One minute Valentine was making some self-righteous speech about Clary’s nephilim blood and joining the movement and blah, blah, blah… The next, Valentine’s evil warlock minion (Dot?) had popped up from the basement of their little motor boat and bound Simon and Clary without hesitation. Clary looked livid; Simon knew she was worried that ten minutes would be way too long for their rescue, but Simon had the text written up and on the screen. All he had to do was press his thumb down on the send button. 

Valentine wasted no time getting Clary onto his boat before rearing around to head back towards (what Simon assumed to be) his ship. Simon just saw open water, presuming the glamour was hiding the maniac’s evil lair. Valentine didn’t bother with Simon. He knew it was a trap and he intended to rely on speed to get the girl past his wards, not strategy. He knew he had a short while before the other shadowhunters began to appear. 

He had to hand it to them: using Clary was a smart tactic; but assuming he’d come alone… well, that was rushed idiocy. Valentine was strong, but he was not tactless. He knew when he needed numbers, especially when it came to dealing with his daughter. The only reason he hadn’t brought more people than Dot was because they were so close to his own territory. 

_The Lightwoods are getting sloppy._ he thought bitterly as they turned to leave the vampire. Clary could kick and scream all she wanted; she was _his_ now. He was finally going to reap the benefits of one of his greatest creations. 

***

Alec and Jace landed a few yards beneath the hull of the boat. Everything around them was bathed in a dark green hue. Alec didn’t have much time to think about how weird breathing underwater felt because he immediately began kicking his feet to climb towards the light. Once he broke the surface, he climbed onto the boat to find Simon wrapped up in some sort-of magical binding. When he looked up, he saw another motor boat retreating; Clary’s distinct, fiery-red hair was billowing behind her in the wind. Next to her stood a man, whom Alec assumed to be Valentine. 

Alec knew he only had a few seconds to make this right. He quickly reached back for an arrow with one hand while pulling the small, wooden box out of his pocket with the other. He popped the small, steel arrow from the wooden rod and then ripped a piece of fabric from his shirt, wrapping one of the new adamas arrowheads onto the nook. Once it was securely tightened and tied off, he notched the arrow and pulled back. Under normal circumstances, he knew Valentine was at a much further distance than the arrow could ever fair to make. 

He prayed Magnus had thought of this when forging his wedding gift. 

Before he could release, he felt a hand clasp down onto his wrist. 

“Alec,” Jace began, giving him a forlorn look, “We’re too late.” He shook his head in frustration. “And even if we weren’t, you could hit Clary…” He trailed off. There was a look in Jace’s eyes that Alec had become achingly familiar with in the past few hours. 

Alec gave him a small, sad smile, before turning back to aim the shot. He was putting all of his faith in Magnus’s magic now. He needed this to work. 

“I won’t miss.” Alec reassured him. “Trust me.” 

And then he let loose of the arrow. 

There was a moment of silence. Neither of them could see the arrow’s trajectory, but after a few seconds, they heard a blood-curdling scream. 

“Dot!” Simon called out, shaking off the already mystifying bounds, “It’s Dot!” 

But, while they couldn’t see the boat very well, they had a clear-enough vision to spot the warlock still standing. So was Clary. 

_Thank God._ thought Alec. 

There was, however, a distinctly lacking third member of the group. Alec only had a second to look for Valentine’s broad frame before a body floated up from the froth of the motor boat.

“Okay,” Jace said, a bit baffled, “okay, we call Izzy now. Simon? Call Izzy. Alec?” He spoke up, turning to his parabatai. “Are you ready to-” 

“Yes.” Alec said, without hesitation. “Yes, let’s go get Magnus.” 

Without another thought, he tucked his bow back behind his shoulder and dove into the frigid water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay okay. We're getting to the good stuff. 
> 
> Still need a beta reader btws. My English is shit.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a beta reader now <333 HUGE thank you to Marylize2121 for making me feel sane. 
> 
> Also, Magnus finally shows up; although, you'll either love me or hate me for it. 
> 
> I'm on twitter: solid_quirks

Alec swam towards Valentine’s body, trying to get to it before the current carried it too far from the motor boat. Once he got a strong grip on the dead man, he used all the strength he could muster to kick his feet against the current and make his way back towards Clary’s boat. His muscles were screaming and his lungs ached by the time he got to the hull of the boat, but he helped Clary heave the body up onto the deck. He knew the Clave would want Valentine, dead or alive, and Alec needed all the brownie points he could get with them after the stunt he pulled following the dramatic interruption of his wedding. He also needed to be sure that his colleagues wouldn’t be taking any of the heat for his decisions. 

Valentine was… well, certainly less dignified dead. His blood was running from the large gash in his neck and spreading down the side of his throat. It mixed with the ocean water dribbling across his skin and pooled beneath his head in a murky, red puddle. Alec found it much easier to believe that he actually could have killed the man from this position. Like he wasn’t some all-powerful nephilim psychopath. Simply a man. And a dead man, at that. 

While the sight of Valentine’s bloated, bleeding body was bordering pitiful, Alec felt none. He turned from the man as soon as he finished fingering his pulse (or a lack-thereof), hoping to address Dot. 

The woman was sitting at the edge of the boat, one hand grasping the rail with a tight, white-handed grip; the other clasped in Clary’s hand. She looked shocked and… horrified. As Alec got closer, she looked up and began frantically spitting out apologies. 

“I’m sorry!” She rushed out, looking at Alec with wide, fearful eyes. “I’m sorry. Please, I didn’t know what I was doing. I-” She took a deep breath, turning to Clary for reassurance. “He’s got this stuff, this poison, and I couldn’t _think_. Angel, I could… I could hardly _breathe_. I’m so sorry Clary.” 

Clary cut her off, taking her in her arms in hopes to calm her down. 

“Dot, hush. We understand, okay? We understand, and I know you’re feeling a lot of conflicting emotions right now, but we really need your help.” Clary soothed, looking up at Alec as she rubbed her hand up and down one of Dot’s arms in a comforting gesture. “Dot,” she started slowly, not looking away from Alec as she spoke, “do you know where he’s keeping Magnus?

Dot visibly froze, and Alec was at her side in an instant. 

“Dot...” he began, searching her face frantically for the answers, “Dot, where is he? Where was he keeping him?”

Dot was shaking her head, her hair moving in to block her expression from Alec. 

“I can’t.” She spoke in a broken, fevered tone. “I- Oh God, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” 

Alec was quickly running out of patience. While he felt sorry for the tired, hysterical woman, her reaction had revamped the worry and guilt driving his actions. However, before he could make a move to drag the answer out of her, Clary leaned down to tuck the limp, stringy hair behind her ears so that she could look directly into the warlock’s bloodshot eyes. 

“Dot, please. We know you’re not the bad guy here. We need to get to him. Soon.”

Dot stared into Clary’s eyes a moment longer before turning back to face Alec, guilt cloaking her expression. 

“He’s in the boiler room. It’s on the bottom floor, near the rear of the ship.” Before Alec could even begin to plan out his next move, Dot took a deep breath and reached to grab onto one of his shirtsleeves. “Alec he-” she looked down, avoiding the young man’s worried eyes. “He’s…” She closed her eyes and Alec watched as she scrunched her face up into a pained expression. 

He was losing it. 

“What Dot?” He spoke sharper than he had intended, but every moment wasted dragging Magnus’s whereabouts out of her was a moment he could be in imminent danger. “He’s what?”

“He’s not okay.” She rushed out, turning her face further from his intense glare. “He- Valentine made me give him whatever concoction he’d given me, but it was much more potent. Valentine thought he’d need it, given Magnus’s lineage. That’s why he wanted Magnus in the first place; he was obsessed with that kind of power. But it was too much, and he- God, he…” She choked, reaching up to cover her sob with the back of her hand. 

By this time, Jace and Simon had made it to their boat, tying down and anchoring the rental before climbing over to join the rest of the group. Jace cut into Dot’s fevered explanation of Magnus’s whereabouts to let Alec know that they’d informed the institute of Valentine's assasination. 

“We also let ‘em know about the massive death ship.” He smiled, unaware of the tense atmosphere that he’d walked in on. “They’re sending in back-up to round up the remaining circle members. They’ll also be sending in a few warlocks to help take down the wards.”

“The wards…” Alec mumbled, stepping back from Dot to look out towards the ship’s general vicinity. “I didn’t even think about the…” He trailed off, but quickly looked back to Dot with a renewed, frantic excitement in his eyes. “Dot, could you portal us? To Magnus, that is?”

“Alec…” Clary warned, eyeing Dot wearily, “she’s pretty weak-”

_“Please.”_ he started again, grabbing one of Dot’s hands and urging her to look at him. “Please, Dot. I know you’re tired, but you’re the only one that can get us to him right now. Please Dot.” He swallowed, tearing his eyes from her gaze to look down at their clasped hands. “I need him.” 

It wasn’t what he had intended to say. _He needs me._ would have been much more of an appropriate explanation. _But no less accurate._ thought Alec. 

Dot followed his gaze to their joined hands before looking up to give him a small nod. 

“Of course.” She sighed, watching the Lightwood man’s shoulder’s visibly sag in relief. “Of course. But…” the pained look flashed across her face again. “He... Alec he may not-”

Alec shook his head, ripping his hand away from hers to walk over to Jace. 

“Don’t.” He spoke cooly, shutting down any doubtful objections from the warlock. “Just get us into the ship.” The tension had returned to his posture and it was visibly clear that he was focusing hard on holding himself together. 

“Okay.” She repeated, looking over to Clary and giving her a reassuring smile. “I can do this, but I can’t keep the portal open for long. You’ll need to hurry. Also,” she warned, looking at Clary with a worrying intensity now, “you need to be careful. Valentine may be dead, but his men are still all over that ship. I’ll try to portal you right into the boiler room, but there may be guards. Depending on…” 

_Depending on if there’s anything worthy of guarding._ Was left unspoken. 

“Right.” Alec nodded, trying not to let the implications roll over in his head too long. “That’s fine. Clary. Jace. You two come with me. Simon,” he spoke, turning to the vampire boy, “stay with Dot. Keep the Clave updated. Try to get Dot to them as soon as you can; she’ll be able to help them take down the wards.” Simon nodded and walked over to take Dot from Clary’s arm. Without a word, she walked over to where Jace and Alec stood, readying herself for whatever they might be facing on the other side of the portal. 

Dot gave Alec a reaffirming nod, before turning from the group to open the portal. It was small, much smaller than Cat’s, and fraying at the edges, but large enough for Alec, Jace, and Clary to squeeze through to the other side. 

*** 

Alec stepped through the portal, slightly disoriented from the quick change of scenery. They appeared in a dimly lit hallway housed in piping and exposed wiring. The hall had a sickly green hue to it; the color of the grimey, old rust was exemplified by the flickering fluorescent lighting hanging above their heads. Alec gauged the distant surroundings: one end of the hall seemed to continue on for a while. Alec couldn’t tell how far, as the end wasn’t lit as well as their location. The other end led to a latched door. There was a rusted wheel protruding from the center and Alec ran to it immediately, using a large amount of strength to turn the wheel in hopes of unlatching the rusty, weighted hinges. It unlocked with a loud “click”, but before Alec could even think to open it, the door slammed open, pinning Alec’s ribcage between a large pipe and the unlatched wheel. 

Three shadowhunters ran in from the next room, but Clary and Jace were prepared. As they made quick work of the circle members, Alec pushed himself out from between the door and the piping, knowing there’d be a deep bruise under his ribs tomorrow if he didn’t apply an iratze soon. Alec joined his parabatai and Clary just as Jace was making one final jab into the gut of the remaining circle member. Knowing they were most-likely not alone, Alec notched an arrow and made his may into the next room, followed closely by his friends. 

The room was large, with big gaping ovens which Alec presumed was intended for coal. Under ordinary circumstances, this room of the ship would be bathed in extraordinary temperatures; however, because the ship had remained stagnant for up to two weeks, it was rather cool and… eerie. Alec knew that, on the other side of the ship walls, they were mostly submerged in ocean water. This left the boiler room feeling cool and damp, creaking as the boat shifted and lurched with the water. 

As Alec rounded the corner to gain full access to the room, five more circle members hurled themselves at the group. Alec managed to get an arrow through one of them, before having to drop his range weapon and opt for a seraph blade. The second man took longer to take down; though he was older, this also meant he had a leg-up on Alec in experience. He managed to get a few good swipes at Alec, one cutting rather deep into the side of Alec’s upper thigh, but Alec eventually had him down on the ground, not thinking twice before going for the fatal blow across the man’s throat. 

Clary and Jace were battling with the other three, and by the looks of it, having a rough go of it. While Jace was dancing between one older man and a young woman, Clary was up against a man that couldn’t be much older than Alec himself. While the circle members were distracted, Alec took out the two Jace was fighting with a single arrow. They were at a close enough range that the momentum of the weapon was strong enough to gouge through the chest of one and slice into the shoulder of the woman fighting behind him. Jace caught on quickly and used the woman’s momentary distraction to make quick work of the rest of her. They then joined Clary in taking out the remaining circle member. 

Just as they turned to make their way deeper into the room, a door near the opposite end opened up and more shadowhunters began pouring in. On reflex, Alec began firing off arrows as fast as he could, but he knew it wouldn’t be enough. He counted seven circle members before he lost the luxury of the space between them and lost count, dropping the bow once more to engage in hand-to-hand combat. 

He knew the battle was a lost cause. There were only three of them, and shadowhunters were still coming in from the opposite entrance, half of them moving in fast to surround Alec, Jace and Clary. The other half conglomerated near a dark corner of the opposite end of the room. They appeared to be guarding… something. Alec spared a moment to look through the legs of the circle members and spotted a limp, tan hand. 

Alec’s heart stopped. 

He swiveled around quickly, passion reigniting in his heart and burning throughout the entirety of his body. He plunged headfirst into the crowd, having no strategy, but at least a destination. He fared well, for a single set of hands, but he was eventually surrounded on all sides. He was taken down by a man behind him, while a woman in front held her blade up to take the final plunge into Alec’s chest. However, before she could even think to bring the sword down another inch, a throwing star was lodged into the back of the woman’s skull, causing her to stagger and drop the sword. Alec rolled to avoid impact and swiftly rose to his feet. 

What he saw then made relief wash through his limbs. Institute members were rushing through a portal near the hallway entrance. Alec sent a quick thank you to the angels (and, begrudgingly, Simon) before reaching for his bow once more and hurtling towards the crowd guarding Magnus. He fired off arrow after arrow, not caring to check where they landed. Once he ran out, he lunged forward with his seraph blade, joining five other members from the Institute in taking down the crowd. When Alec sparred a glance around him to see who was fighting at his side, he caught a glimpse of Lydia’s sleak, blonde ponytail. 

When Alec finally, _finally_ cut through the crowd, he nearly sobbed. Magnus lay on the ground, wearing only a thin, torn pair of pajama bottoms. This left his torso completely bare, meaning Alec could see the full effects of what the poison had done to his body. Thick, black veins wrapped around every inch of Magnus’s naked skin. His whole body was drenched in sweat and he was curled in on himself in a fetal position. While he was completely limp, and his eyes were closed, Alec could still make out faint, shallow breaths coming from the warlock’s mouth. Magnus was alive, but barely. 

All thoughts of the dull pain throbbing in Alec’s thigh and the chaos surrounding him left Alec’s mind. He knelt down next to Magnus, cradling him against his chest as he picked him up off of the cool, damp ground. He could feel how hot Magnus was, no doubt a fever overtaking his body so as to stifle the infection from the poison. Alec could see each little black vein pulsing across Magnus’s cheeks, forehead, eyelids… His hair was damp and sticking to the sides of his face, and his lips were deathly blue. He looked so… soft. So broken; nothing like the strong, powerful warlock that Alec had become accustomed to. It made something inside of Alec’s chest close in on itself. 

He needed to get Magnus back to Cat, immediately. 

Alec pressed through the crowd, making a vague note of the last few circle members surrendering to the incoming shadowhunters. He was rushing for the portal, praying it didn’t close before he made it back to the Institute. He could feel the curious eyes of his coworkers boring into him, but he didn’t have time to pay them any mind. His only thoughts were for the dying man in his arms. 

_Don’t leave me._ He thought, mournfully. He had made it to the portal and was taking the last few strides needed to get him back into the OPS center. 

_Don’t you dare leave me, Magnus Bane. Not when I finally found you._

***

Once Alec stepped through the portal, he immediately fell to his knees. The dizzying feeling that came with portal transportation, alongside the loss of blood from his wounds, left him feeling disoriented. He clung to Magnus’s limp body as though it were a lifeline. 

Jace and Clary had caught sight of him making his way through the crowded boiler room near the end of the fight. They had given one last sweep across the room to be sure that everything was being handled by their fellow shadowhunters before hastening to follow Alec through the portal. When they stepped through, they both reached down to grab Alec by the armpits and help him into a standing position. 

Catarina watched as the three shadowhunters and injured warlock made their way through her portal. She rapidly closed the portal before running over to where Alec stood, holding Magnus tight enough that she feared he may be doing more harm than good. She tried not to stare at the gruesome, broken body in Alec’s arms for too long, fearing the pain it caused would overwhelm the cool demeanor she’d spent years building up as a nurse. She needed to be the one to hold herself together right now, because the shadowhunter standing in front of her looked to be a few words from falling apart. 

“Alec...” she said gently, reaching for the boy’s cheek with the palm of her hand. “Alec, listen to me. You need to let go of him okay? You need to let him go so that I can take a look at what’s going on.” She soothed, wiping sweat, blood, and tears from the young man’s face. Alec stared at her blankly before looking down at the man in his arms. He loosened his grip slightly before kneeling back down and crossing his legs into a seated position. Both Jace and Clary helped support his weight until they were sure he was seated fully on the ground. Alec never let go of Magnus; he merely shifted the warlock’s weight a bit so that he was lying across Alec’s lap with his head nestled between Alec’s shoulder and bicep. Magnus’s head fell to the side so that half his face was buried in Alec’s armpit. Now that Alec was out of the warpath, he couldn’t rip his eyes from the man in his arms. 

Figuring this was as good a relenting gesture as Cat was going to get, she summoned her nursing gear and began checking Magnus’s vitals. The man was still breathing, albeit a bit laybored, and his heartbeat was quick and faint. While the veins looked daunting, Cat didn’t think the man was in any immediate danger. When she turned to pull out a syringe, Alec finally looked up, eyeing the glass vial with a hint of hesitation. 

“I just need a sample.” Cat soothed, reaching out for one of Magnus’s forearms. “I can’t help him if I don’t know what’s wrong. I’ll call Izzy so that we can run the tests as quickly as possible here at the Institute.” She spoke in a cool, professional manner, fighting back bile as she watched the sluggish, black blood make its way into the syringe. “Whatever this stuff is, Magnus’s magic is fighting it tooth and nail. His body and magic are rejecting the poison; that’s why his fever’s so high.” She finished, placing the vial into her nursing bag. She turned to Jace then. 

“Take him to the infirmary. Get him on an IV. He needs fluids. Also, please get him on a respirator; we don’t know what this stuff is doing to his lungs. I’m going to try and decipher what Valentine put into his system so that we can at least try to begin figuring out how to combat it. Okay?” She finished, giving Alec one last understanding look before turning to make her way towards the labs. 

In the meantime, Jace squeezed Alec’s shoulder, trying to get his parabatai to focus. 

“Alec-” He started, but Alec cut him off. 

“I know.” Alec stood, bringing Magnus’s body into his chest once more, before making a beeline for the infirmary. However, before he and the other two could make it out of the OPS center, Maryse stepped in from the adjoining armory to stop him. She had overheard most of the conversation while gathering her own gear to join the rest of the institute out on the ship. 

“ _What_ on earth is going on here?” She began, giving the group a cool, disapproving look. Alec made a move to simply step around her, but she reached out to firmly grab him by the elbow. “Get him out of here. You know this is against protocol, Alexander. And why have you left the ship? You’re people are still out there battling the Circle, while you whisk away valuable hands to bring in a half-dead warlo-”

“That’s enough.” Alec spoke cooly, ripping his elbow from his mother’s grasp before turning to head through the archway. “I’ve killed your enemy. You deal with the repercussions.” He practically ran down the hall, willing himself not to think about the description his mother had used for Magnus’s current state. 

_He’s not dead._ He reassured himself. _He’s not dead._

*** 

Magnus laid nearly lifeless for roughly three days in the infirmary. Maryse had tried to object to the downworlder taking up a bed and resources next to other injured shadowhunters, but the Inquisitor, of all people, had silenced her objections. Lydia had been right: once the Clave had heard of the fall of Valentine and his men, Alec and his friends had been pardoned of any sort-of repercussions they may have received. Not to mention, as Alec was briefed by Lydia later on, the Institute had discovered many more downworlders, mundanes, and shadowhunters held hostage on the ship. All captured with the intent of sick, malicious experimentation. 

Alec was even to receive a formal and public congratulations from the Inquisitor herself, if he ever found it in himself to leave the infirmary. 

He did not. 

The first day, he sat the entire day staring at the weak, broken body of Magnus Bane. The nurses at the infirmary had done as Cat had instructed. They immediately had him hooked up to an IV, as well as a large, bulky respirator. They had also covered him up with cheap, cotton sheets, but quickly stripped them off again once they saw Magnus sweat through each layer. Now, he laid there, bare and open in nothing but the thin pajama bottoms he came in. It left Alec with the sick and twisted opportunity to watch each growing bruise form around Magnus’s ribs, his chest, and his left side. These were, no doubt, resulting injuries from a struggle that Alec was sure to have come from fighting off circle members. This, on top of the dark, black veins, left Magnus looking almost as though he were rotting from the inside out. 

Alec hardly slept. When he did, he simply pillowed his head with his arms across the top of the mattress, never letting go of Magnus’s hand. He couldn’t sleep for more than a few hours at a time, waking to any and every shift that Magnus made in his comatose state. 

Jace came in the first day to draw iratzes near his wounds. After that, her and Jace alternated between one another in bringing Alec food. 

Catarina visited frequently, checking on Magnus’s vitals and making sure that the nurses were keeping his IV full. She also, occasionally, waved her arms around Magnus to allow a soft, pink smoke settle down across the man before it seeped into his skin. 

“Pain relief.” She told Alec. 

She watched the young nephilim through the course of Magnus’s stasis. His intensity astounded her. She had not known the… depth of feelings that the young man seemed to harbor for her old friend. 

One morning, around 3:30 a.m. she came to make another round of check-ups before heading home for a few hours of sleep. However, she stopped herself just outside the entrance of the infirmary, stepping out of the line of sight of the doorway and peeking her head around the corner. 

Alec was awake. He was lying on the bed next to Magnus, long legs tucked onto the bed so that his knees were barely touching the warlock’s side. The rest of his body remained separate from Magnus, aside from the one hand that he used to comb through Magnus’s thick, matted hair. Cat watched as he gently wrestled with the knots and separated the smooth, unraveled hair from the tangled strands. He treated Magnus’s hair like it was made of glass. Like he might break him if he pulled too hard. She saw tears prickling the edges of the boy’s eyes, but he made no move to wipe them away. 

It was a simple gesture, but it was rather intimate, and Cat figured her friend would last another few hours without her hovering. She didn’t want to impose on whatever atmosphere had made Alec feel brave enough to crawl in bed with the warlock. She also knew that Alec would call her immediately if something went wrong. 

Cat backed away from the door, quietly, before portalling home. 

***

On the third day, Cat returned to the Institute with a breakthrough. She found Alec, dutifully sitting beside Magnus in the infirmary, and hastened to tell him about both her and Izzy’s discovery. 

“It’s angel blood.” She began, watching Alec’s soft, tired eyes widen in shock. “I know, I know. Your mother is working on finding the source as we speak. There were no traces of anything remotely angelic on that ship.” She confirmed, turning to run her eyes over her sick friend’s pale, bruised body. 

“I don’t…” Alec cleared his throat, turning to follow her gaze that swept across Magnus’s torso, “I don’t understand. Why is he- I mean… Why is his body…” He veered off in question, trying to wrap his head around the newly acquired information. 

“Alec,” she looked at him then, with a deep, age-old sadness seeping into her eyes, “while you and your friends may have thrived on such a transfusion, Magnus’s body and soul are rejecting the imposing blood. You must remember, Magnus is half demon. His power and essence come from a source of deeply ingrained dark energy. Angel blood is… well, it’s something good and pure in its truest, most concentrated form. This… this concoction that Valentine has injected him with… It’s burning him from the inside out.” She finished, willing herself to keep the tears from finally falling after long nights of worry and equally long days full of research and questioning. 

“So he… he’s-” 

Alec didn’t get a chance to finnish. Suddenly, as though Magnus’s magic was made aware of Catarina’s informative blow, the atmosphere around them crackled with electricity. Before either of them could think to move, the stained-glass window of the angel Raziel shattered across the room, falling like frozen droplets to land on the floor of the infirmary. The noise allerted a few nearby shadowhunters to the entrance of the room, including Jace and Isabelle. 

“Stay back!” Cat warned, looking at the small crowd congeling at the doorway. “Stay back. Alec.” she turned to the young shadowhunter, “Alec, you need to move. He's extremely volatile. He-” 

But she was suddenly cut off by a blood-curdling scream. Both Alec and Cat starred fearfully as Magnus lurched in the bed and his body began convulsing. He was screeching into the respirator and when Alec reached over to try and press his shoulders back down into the mattress, he was met with a pair of wide and frightened cat-eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just remember that I write happy endings bc I don't hate myself _that_ much. 
> 
> More to come!
> 
> Also, sorry about the plot holes. I figure if the show can leave as many as they did at the end of season three, then so can I.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thank you to Maryliz2121 for beta reading for me! She's helped me keep this cohesive and decipherable. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Alec panicked as he watched Magnus’s eyes roll into the back of his head and his body shake violently. The heart monitor was beeping erratically and black, sluggish liquid began making its way into the respirator tubing. Alec ripped the face mask from Magnus’s mouth only to watch the man cough up thick, black blood. 

A burning, electric feeling began making its way up Alec’s arms from where he was holding onto the warlock, but he ignored the pain so as to keep Magnus pinned to the bed. 

In the meantime, Izzy and another shadowhunter ran in to hold down both of Magnus’s arms. Jace was trying to keep the rest of the crowd from venturing too far into the room. Half of them already had their weapons out, ready to take on whatever the unhinged magic manifested into. 

Alec was losing his grip and watched in horror as Magnus kept choking up blood. Finally, paying no mind to the shadowhunters surrounding him, he crawled up onto the infirmary bed and straddled Magnus’s hips. He wrapped one arm around the back of Magnus’s torso, trying to get him in an upright position while still keeping him from jerking too far off the bed. He reached up with his other hand to grab hold of Magnus’s jaw in a tight grip, willing the man to face forward so that Alec could press his forehead against his. 

Before he could begin to wonder what to do next, Catarina was putting a calm, reaffirming hand on his back. 

“Alec, the angelic power is destroying his magic. I don’t think there’s anything you can do.” She ran her hand down his back in a soothing gesture. “You need to get out of here though, okay? He’s barely containing his magic right now.”

Almost as though it heard her, little blue sparks flickered from Magnus’s fingers and the lightbulbs hanging from the rafters popped, spraying down little flecks of glass onto the infirmary floor. 

_No._ Alec thought frantically, closing his eyes and trying to press impossibly closer to the dying man. _No. Not now. Not like this._

“Can’t I-” Alec spoke through clenched teeth, “Can’t I give him my strength? Can’t he-” He was cut off by another bloody cough coming from Magnus. The blood made it onto Alec's own lips, but he hardly noticed. 

“Alec, I’m trying everything I can, but his magic’s been poisoned. The last thing he needs is your angelic power.” She spoke again, moving her palm from Alec’s back to Magnus’s bruised side, no doubt channeling what she could of her own healing power into the man. “Please Alec,” her mask slipped then, and pain overtook her expression, “he’s holding on _for you_. You need to leave before his control slips entirely. The angelic blood has warped the way his magic works; he has very little authority over his own actions.” 

Alec felt another sharp pain course through his body, this time coming from where his forehead was pressed against Magnus’s. His muscles clenched up to keep him from moving and he felt the burning sensation run all the way down to his toes. However, when he opened his eyes, he watched a brief wave of relief pass through Magnus’s eyes before he scrunched his face up in pain once more. 

_Oh._ Alec thought. _Maybe…_

Once more, the memory of saving Luke came to the forefront of Alec’s mind. He remembered the way Magnus reached into his very being to borrow some of his strength. He remembered how drained and depleted he felt afterwards; like he’d opened a door to his heart and Magnus had knocked down the remaining barriers and flooded his senses, collecting little pieces of Alec to save the werewolf. 

And maybe, if Magnus could use his magic to pull from Alec’s angelic essence, he could use that same passage to give Alec his own weaknesses. Could Magnus channel his tainted, poisoned magic into Alec? Could he hand over the foriegn angelic fire that was eating into his system and just… let Alec burn through it? 

_Well,_ Alec thought, a slight tinge of hope making its way into the young man’s heart, _he’s going to try._

“Magnus.” He grunted against the man’s lips, “Magnus listen to me. I need you to push this into me, okay? Channel your magic into me.” He knew it was a long shot, but if Magnus’s previous reaction was anything to go by… 

But Magnus, even in his fevered, delirious state, shook his head vigorously. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to turn his face away from Alec. 

Catarina, on the other hand, was looking at Alec in awe. 

“Of course…” she trailed off, watching Alec prepare himself for the onslaught of magic that was sure to flow from Magnus’s body. “Of course, Alec! Your blood- Alec you could help him. I didn’t even-” she was cut off by an electric pulse that seemed to emanate from Magnus’s body and course throughout the room. Alec visibly shivered, but otherwise didn’t move. The two shadowhunters holding Magnus down loosened their grips for a moment, before clamping back down around his arms with renewed concern. Izzy was made very aware of how insignificant her strength truly was, in this scenario. 

“Alec…” Cat warned, pushing more of her own strong, stable magic into Magnus. It was doing nothing, of course. The angelic power inside of him began burning it up immediately. “I worry about the risks…”

“There’s no time.” He rushed out, unlocking his hand from Magnus’s jaw to brush the black, silky hair back from his forehead. He then used the cuff of his shirtsleeve to wipe away some of the blood around Magnus’s mouth. Though, it was a fruitless gesture, as Magnus immediately began hacking up more fluid from his lungs. “Magnus, we need to do this now, okay?”

Again, Magnus moved to wrench his face from Alec’s grasp, trying to drag his eyes away from the shadowhunter’s intense stare. 

“Go away.” He rasped out in between coughs. Another pulse ran through Alec’s body, but he ignored it. 

“No.” Alec stilled his objections by moving his hand back down to grip Magnus’s jaw. “Magnus? No, look at me. Give me this. Let me do this for you.” He begged as Magnus opened his eyes once more. They were watery and bloodshot and made Alec’s throat close up in pain. He watched as Magnus coughed up more blood and began shutting his eyes again. Slower this time. Like he was giving up. Like he…

“Magnus.” Alec said again, using a firm but soft voice. The warlock’s eyes shot open once more. “Magnus, _please_ , let go. Okay? Just let go. I’m right here.” He pressed a closed-mouth kiss against Magnus’s then, caking his own lips in the man’s blood. “Let go, Magnus.” He whispered one more time and then opened his mouth to deepen the one-sided kiss. 

At first, he felt nothing; just the hot, damp breath coming from the man beneath him, and the warm, sticky feeling of the blood covering his lips and chin. For a brief moment, he almost feared Magnus would actually just let himself drown in his own blood. Alec pressed closer, willing Magnus’s own mouth to open so that he could taste the metallic, earthy flavor of blood mixed with something else that was so inanely _Magnus_. Both of his arms came up to cup the man’s face and tilt it ever so slightly, so that he might reach a little _deeper_ ; a little _closer._ He was sure that his grip on Magnus’s cheeks was bordering on bruising, but he didn’t care. _Please._ he kept repeating to himself, _Please, Magnus, please try. Please just try._

He broke the kiss off after a few seconds, fearing he may be suffocating Magnus in his already weakened state, but Alec didn’t get more than a few inches from the warlock before he felt the man’s damp, sticky lips back on his own. Magnus had followed Alec’s mouth, craning his neck so that he might catch Alec before he got too far from reach. 

“Stay.” Magnus sobbed against his mouth, taking a deep breath through his nose in order to stifle down another cough. 

Alec surged forward, latching onto Magnus’s mouth like a dying man gasping for air. 

_Stay._ Magnus’s words floated around in Alec’s mind, consuming all other thoughts and feelings he may have held before that moment. _Stay. Stay. Stay, Magnus, stay. Stay with me._ He cried into the kiss, tasting his own tears mixed with Magnus’s tangy, metallic blood. 

Alec could detect no protest from Magnus, even as Magnus let out another wet cough against his lips. He felt Magnus rip his arms from the two shadowhunters to wrap them around Alec’s waist. This allowed for Alec to feel every hot, shivering plane of Magnus’s body. He felt every ragged breath that Magnus took; every rapid heartbeat reverberating through Magnus’s chest. Everything was warm and soft and smelled of blood and _Magnus._ He felt Magnus shift slightly to press his hand to the back of Alec’s neck, deepening the kiss by arching Alec’s mouth down a bit. 

And then, Alec was on fire. 

His entire body froze up as hot, fierce flames licked into his mouth and down his throat. Tendrils of heat wrapped themselves around Alec’s chest and squeezed around his organs. His hands moved to Magnus’s hair and he held onto the strands so tightly that he was sure a few had been ripped out. The only thing anchoring him to his body was the firm grip Magnus had on his neck, keeping Alec attached to his lips. 

Alec faintly registered a scream and prayed it hadn’t come from him. It left his ears ringing and he felt a light pulse near his hip. 

He wanted to die. He wanted to yank himself away from Magnus’s arms. He hadn’t thought much of hell before, but he was sure this was it. For one terrible, sick moment he prayed Magnus would just unlatch himself from his lips and die, but then he felt a slight whimper thrum into his mouth and he just pushed himself closer. He knew, even in his hazy pained state, that he couldn’t move. He couldn’t let on to the amount of excruciating pain he was in because he _knew_ Magnus would let go; would let himself drown. So he stayed as still as he could, letting the flames tear him apart from the inside out. 

He didn’t know how long he sat there, burning. But, after a while, the flames began to die down. They ebbed away slowly and were replaced with a warm, fuzzy electricity. Alec’s muscles began to relax and he melted into Magnus’s hold. He made a dull note of their lips detaching before he slumped forward and fell on top of Magnus entirely. He reserved enough thought to remember to fall slightly to the side, so as not to impede on Magnus’s already labored breathing.

The last thing he registered was the press of a warm, soft cheek against his hair before he passed out. 

*** 

It was Jace who had screamed. The shadowhunters watched in horror as he suddenly grabbed for his hip, hiking up the hem of his shirt to reveal thick, black veins spreading from his parabatai rune. He tried to focus on breathing, but the fire spreading from his hip was all-consuming. He had no idea how Alec was holding it together. 

Izzy ran to his side and helped him down to the ground. In the meantime, Catarina was whispering to Magnus, combing his hair back in a gentle, soothing motion. Izzy made a small note of the baby pink tufts of magic leaving her hand and seeping into Magnus’s skin. Izzy held Jace close, glaring around the room in order to retain some semblance of authority. Everyone was on edge, ready to attack as soon as Magnus made one wrong move. 

“Cat!” Izzy tried to sound composed, but she was giving the warlock woman a frenzied look. “Cat, what’s going on? What’s he doing?”

“He’s using himself as a sink for Magnus’s magic.” She replied, refusing to turn from her menstruations to answer. “He’s allowing Magnus to channel the tainted parts of himself into his own being, in hopes of burning it up.”

“Will it work?” Izzy asked, sending Jace a fearful side-eye. 

“I-” Catarina paused, bowing her head forward a bit and letting out a deep sigh. “I don’t know.” 

Everyone waited after that, watching Alec struggle through his silent agony and Jace writhing in Izzy’s arms. Izzy was torn between walking over to pry her brother off of Magnus’s body and staying to support Jace. 

Finally, after a few minutes, Jace’s heartbeat settled down, and he reached up to wipe slick, sweaty strands of hair from his forehead. Izzy watched him rub away pain-induced tears before sitting up a bit to catch his breath. 

“Cat.” He called out. “Cat, he’s-” he gulped, leaning his head back to keep from throwing up. “He’s fine. Magnus is fine. Tell him to stop.” His head rolled to the side and he rested against Izzy’s shoulder. He felt dizzy and weak, like someone had wrung out all of his muscles. When he looked back down to his hip, he could see the black veins were already receding back into the parabatai rune. In fact, little, blue bursts of light were spreading from the rune to lick and soothe the inflamed veins. They felt warm and light; much less intrusive than the black sludge they seemed to be replacing. 

_Magic._ Jace noted, dully. 

“Magnus, let him go.” He heard Cat whisper, faintly. “Let him go, Magnus, there’s nothing left. He’ll take care of the rest. Just let go.” 

Jace mustered up enough energy to crack his lids open and watch as Magnus’s arms detached themselves from their strong grip on Alec’s neck before his parabatai sank into the warlock’s embrace. He could see similar black veins decorating Alec’s entire body and he wanted to get up and make sure his brother was okay, but he couldn’t make himself move. Instead, he closed his eyes once more and fell back against Izzy to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, the kiss was kinda gory. I think I've been desensitized by one-too-many Stephen King novels. Don't worry, the rest of the kisses are not near as gross. 
> 
> Sappy, romantic confessions to come. Followed by sappy, romantic smut. 
> 
> Your comments make my physics hw feel less hellish (js).


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My lovely beta reader, Maryliz2121, showed me the light: Magnus's and Magnus' are both correct ways to write the possessive apostrophe. Which is great because, idk about y'all, but s's makes me wanna gag.

Alec came-to with a pounding headache. 

He didn’t even have time to blink before he lurched forward and felt a bucket be pushed into his lap. He immediately expelled whatever food and liquid resided in his stomach. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been out, but if the burning, acidic taste in his mouth was anything to go by, it was probably a while. 

As he threw up, he felt a cool, gentle hand comb his hair back from his sweaty forehead in a soothing gesture. When he was done, he felt that same hand reach back behind his neck to support him as he moved to lay back down against the pillow.

After taking a few deep breaths, he finally opened his eyes to see Lydia staring at him with a warm expression. 

Alec sat up again, the movement making his stomach twist in protest; but he ignored it, looking around the infirmary frantically for-

“He’s back home.” Lydia spoke in an understanding tone, reaching towards the bedside table for a glass of water. She handed it to Alec, raising her eyebrows as he began to protest. “You drink. I’ll talk.” She refused to continue until he finally raised the glass to his lips. 

“The Inquisitor wasn’t too impressed with the stunt you pulled yesterday. She was even less impressed with the damage Magnus had done on the infirmary.” Alec spared a glance at the window, noting the new, bland panes that covered the area where Raziel once stood. Lydia noticed, a contemplative look crossing her face. Alec raised an inquisitive eyebrow. 

Lydia shook her head. 

“Nothing.” She murmured. “It’s nothing, I just…” She looked back up at Alec’s intense gaze, knowing he was already itching to leave the infirmary. “Being loved by you must feel pretty overwhelming.” She finished, looking back down at her hands to avoid Alec’s eyes. 

Alec wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so he didn’t. He waited for Lydia to finish her briefing in silence. 

Eventually, she looked back up and gave him a tight smile. 

“Anyway, umm, Catarina Loss took Magnus back to his apartment. She’s taking care of him there. Once your sister knew that you and your parabatai were safe, she and Clary left with a team of shadowhunters to track down the angel that Valentine was using to collect blood from.”

“My parabatai…” Alec trailed off, looking around again to see if he could spot Jace’s blonde head poking out from the sheets of one of the infirmary beds. 

“He’s fine.” Lydia rushed, placing a firm hand on his shoulder to keep him from leaping out of the bed. “Everyone’s fine, Alec. He just took on some of the weight when you helped Magnus earlier. That’s all. He recovered within a few hours. You, on the other hand…” She trailed off and Alec took the opportunity to look down at his own hands. Faint, black veins ran across the back of his hands. He followed their trails with his eyes up along his forearms and into his shirtsleeve. He pressed the back of his hand against his own forehead, feeling the heat emanating from his body, indicative of a high fever. Alec used the hand holding the half-empty glass to press the cool water against his temple, sighing in relief. 

Lydia watched him fondly, before continuing. 

“Your mother is wondering if we should keep the Clave members waiting around. She wants to know when you’ll feel ready enough to finish the wedding ceremony.” 

Alec froze, looking at Lydia like she’d just punched all the air out of him. She rushed her words again, knowing she should have led with her refusal. 

“Alec, of course I’m not going through with it; even if, after everything that’s happened, you tried to insist.” She grabbed his free hand and squeezed tightly. She refused to break eye-contact this time, needing him to understand the severity of her words. 

“Alec, I will not be the root cause of your unhappiness. I have loved and been loved before. Fiercely and loyally. I will not take that from you. Not even if you asked.” She finished, begging him with her eyes to see the truth in her words. 

But Alec didn’t need her to relinquish his hand in marriage to know that he’d never follow through with the wedding. He knew he could never marry her the moment he heard Cat deliver his death sentence in the ballroom four days prior. That didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate her sentiment. 

“Lydia,” Alec spoke up in a rough, scratchy voice, “help me up.” He shifted, sitting up slowly and swinging his legs around to hang off the side of the bed. She supported his back with one hand, and reached out to take the glass from him with another. Once he was comfortable, and his feet were planted firmly on the ground, he took one of her hands in his. He circled his thumb around nervously over the knuckle of her index finger before finally looking up to make eye-contact. 

“You would have been a great partner.” He sighed, looking back down at their hands. He swallowed thickly, before continuing. “You would have been a great wife, Lydia… But, I won’t live without him.” He spoke simply, like the words hadn’t been weighing down against his chest for weeks. 

She took her hand from his and used it to tip his chin up to look at her. 

She smiled. 

“Alec, I’m not asking you to.”

*** 

Despite Maryse’s incessant protests, and many other shadowhunters’ judgmental side-eyes, Alec left the Institute later that evening for Magnus’s. He’d called beforehand, surprised to hear Catarina’s voice at the other end of the line. 

“He’s just been sleeping, mostly.” She reassured him through the phone. “But, even if he’s not awake when you get here, I’d like to check on you anyway. You took quite the beating, Alec.” 

So here Alec was, sitting on the edge of his seat, his foot tapping nervously against Magnus’s insanely luxurious Persian rug while Cat ran her hands up and down his arms. Alec could see little tendrils of pink light leaving her hand and leaking out over the rest of his body. Alec didn’t mind the feeling. While Magnus’s magic felt warm and tingly, like getting shocked by a doorknob after rubbing one’s feet across a fuzzy carpet, Cat’s felt cool and gentle. Like water, or soft sheets. Despite this, Alec couldn’t quite say he preferred her magic over Magnus’s. 

He liked the feeling of Magnus’s magic inside of him. He vaguely remembered the way it felt coursing through his body near the end of the transfusion the day before. It was electric and powerful. It made Alec feel light and tingly; it made him feel _alive_. 

Cat didn’t speak the entire time, and for that, Alec was grateful. He felt like he’d been justifying his actions all day, first to his mom, then the Inquisitor, then to his fellow shadowhunters. Alec wasn’t inclined to talk much in the first place, let alone about his feelings that he didn’t quite understand himself. Cat seemed to understand this, so she simply hummed under her breath as she continued her menstruations across Alec’s body. This left Alec alone with his own thoughts, which, in retrospect, he wasn’t sure was any better than being distracted by other people’s voiced opinions. 

Alec wasn’t sure what the next step was. Yes, Lydia had relinquished her hold (a hold in which Alec was responsible for putting himself in in the first place); but, his parents very-much-so wanted him to marry, Lydia be damned. Alec was, apparently, the talk of the town back in Idris. 

And then there was Magnus. 

Magnus, whom Alec had rejected over and _over_ again. Magnus, who Alec had left for another woman, alone and compromised so that he might be taken by Valentine from his own home. Magnus, who had almost di-

“Quit that.” Cat finally spoke up, snapping Alec out of his revere. Cat had finished her analysis and was looking at Alec now with deep, imploring eyes. “Don’t draw any conclusions before you’ve even seen the man.” She stood then, and began to pack away her overnight bag. She relayed to him her diagnosis as she worked. 

“You’ll be fine, as will Magnus. You both just need a lot of rest. Your fever is going down. I expect it to be completely gone within the next day or so. It will decrease as you burn through the remainder of the angelic magic. I’ll be back to check on you both tomorrow.” She finished, hoisting her bag over her shoulder before turning to face Alec once again. Alec didn’t miss the implication in her words. 

“Thank you.” She said firmly, giving Alec a look that he couldn’t quite decipher. “Thank you for saving my friend, Alec. In more ways than one, I’m sure.” And with that, she gave him a quick pat on his cheek before turning towards the door. Before she left, she laid her spare key on the fourier table, giving Alec an obvious wink, before walking out the door. 

*** 

After Cat left, Alec wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself. Every fiber of Alec’s being yearned to check on Magnus, but he trusted Catarina’s words, and knew the warlock needed sleep. So, he settled on making dinner. He didn’t know a lot of recipe’s, relying mainly on the Institute's cafeteria for the majority of his meals, but he wasn’t hopeless. He quickly found enough for a basic pasta dish, as well as a few pots and pans, before getting to work. 

It was nice using his hands for something. It kept him distracted from his own thoughts. He pulled up some music and played it on low-volume from his phone speaker. He tried to choose something complicated, with a lot of words, so that he’d have something easy and simple to focus on. He opted for a rapper that Simon had once mentioned. He hated the music, but it was doing the job, so he left it.

Before he knew it, he was already straining the noodles, and fear began to tighten his stomach into a knot once more. He knew the music could only distract him for so long. He tried to prolong the peace by adding a salad to the meal, but that only took about ten minutes. However, as he began to set everything down on the dining room table, he heard the bedroom door open and the soft pitter-patter of bare feet walking across the wooden floor. When he looked up, he immediately dropped the salad bowl. Luckily, it only fell a few inches, as Alec had been holding it over the table, but the reaction was obvious enough that it left Magnus with a slight smirk on his face. 

Magnus was leaning against the entrance of the hallway wearing nothing but a bright pink, silk robe that barely ended mid-thigh. Magnus had obviously haphazardly thrown the garment on in a pinch, because it was only loosely tied around his waist and hardly even closed. The robe opened up to expose the smooth, dark planes of Magnus’s torso. Beauty aside, Alec could make out the dark, yellow-rimmed bruises peeking out from Magnus’s left side and beneath his ribcage. 

Magnus’s face was make-up free and his hair hung loosely around his ears, framing his face and making it look almost… delicate. He was void of all necklaces, rings, and even his signature ear cuff. Dark circles lay beneath his eyes and his shoulders slumped a bit. He looked so… soft. So vulnerable. 

Alec had never seen anything more beautiful. 

Before Alec could make too much a fool of himself, Magnus stepped forward and smiled, sniffing the air as he approached the table. 

“Well this is… unexpected.” He gave Alec a tired smile, before pulling out a chair to sit gracefully in front of one of the plates Alec had set out earlier. 

“I… Cat left a key, I-”

“Alexander,” Magnus cut him off, looking up at the young man with a curious expression, “It’s fine. We can worry about explanations later. Let’s eat first, okay? I’m sure we could both use the energy boost.” 

Alec nodded. He swallowed down the lump in his throat that he hadn’t realized he’d been building, before dishing out the pasta for the both of them. 

They ate in silence. Alec noticed Magnus wasn’t making any moves to shift closer to Alec throughout the course of the meal, nor did he send him any flirtatious grins. In fact, he hardly made eye-contact with Alec at all. Alec tried to mark it off as fatigue, but something dark and cold inside of him knew it was something more. Something…

Magnus rose from the table, reaching for Alec’s empty plate before marching off to the kitchen. Even in his timid state, Alec couldn’t help but notice the way the silk moved against Magnus’s backside. Alec’s breath caught in his throat when the robe rode up a bit, barely giving him a glimpse of- 

“Thank you.” Magnus pulled him out of his revere, and he shook his head a bit before looking up to meet the man’s eyes. Magnus had a reserved, unreadable expression on his face. “For everything. For the meal, and for coming to get me, and for…” Magnus veered off before clearing his throat. He never finished the thought. “Anyway,” he continued, offering Alec a tight smile, “While I’m sure this has all made for a lovely honeymoon, you don’t have to stay. Cat has given me the all clear. You’re fine to run back to the Institute.” He finished, turning to drop the dishes in the sink and begin filling it with soapy water. 

Oh. 

_Oh._

It finally clicked. Why Magnus was acting so distant. Why he hadn’t tried to touch Alec or flirt with him throughout the course of the meal. Why it felt like he was trying to get Alec out of the loft as soon as humanly possible. 

_He thinks I went through with it._ Alec thought, mournfully. 

He walked over to the warlock, reaching out with a tentative hand to grab one of Magnus’s soapy wrists. Magnus was pointedly ignoring his gaze, fixing his eyes on the dirty dishes in front of him. 

“Magnus…” 

“No, I get it.” Magnus spoke bitterly, pulling his hand from Alec’s grip as though it were burning him. “I get it, okay? I know how you work, Alec.” Alec tried not to feel too hurt by the use of his shortened name. “I understand that you have this… this _guilt_ inside of you. But you can’t let that hold you back okay?” He looked at Alec then, rage building behind his glamoured eyes. “You can’t _do_ things like that again. I know you take things upon yourself, but none of this was your fault and for you to pull something so… so…” He ripped his eyes from Alec’s, his eyes searching frantically around him before landing on the loose knot of his robe. He reached down with both hands to fiddle with the tie. “What you did at the infirmary, though brave, was extremely reckless. And while I appreciate not being dead, you can’t throw your life away every time you feel as though you’ve messed up just to make amends. You are…” He swallowed thickly, turning his eyes completely from Alec’s view, “You’re too valuable.” 

_Guilty._ Alec thought, incredulously. _He thinks I saved his life because I felt…_

Alec was never a man of many words, but he knew whatever he said next would probably be the most important speech he’d ever give in his life. As gently as he could, Alec laid one of his hands on Magnus’s hip, reaching with the other for the knot of his robe, using it to steer Magnus around to face him. Then he let go of the knot to tilt Magnus’s chin up with the tip of his index finger, making sure to have a clear few of Magnus’s warm, brown eyes. Eyes that, despite everything, still held a sliver of hope. 

Alec fed on that. 

“Magnus,” he began, tightening his grip in the man’s waist, “I never married Lydia.”

He watched the hope bloom across Magnus’ expression. 

“What?” He gasped out. “What? But I thought… I-”

Alec cut him off, wanting to make sure that Magnus didn’t try to twist the story out of his favor any more than he already had. 

“I’m not married. I’m not going to be married. I did not come for you because I felt guilty for losing you, though that did play into my feelings a significant amount. I came for you because I don’t want to live in a world where you don’t exist, Magnus Bane.”

“I- Alec I-” Alec could see tears building in the man’s eyes now. Magnus’s hands were flaying, and Alec reached out to grab them with both of his, cupping them between his palms. He brought them up to kiss one of the knuckles, never breaking eye-contact with the warlock. 

“Magnus,” he began again, pressing his lips to the palm of one of the warlock’s hands. “I am so sorry for everything I’ve put you through, I cannot deny that. But, mostly, I’m sorry it took so long, and for such a terrible event to occur, for me to finally see that I don’t want to be anywhere but with you.” He closed his eyes against the onslaught of emotions that he watched pass over Magnus’s face and pressed his forehead against their clasped hands. 

After a minute or so, he felt Magnus pull his hands from Alec’s tight grasp, only to reach up and cup Alec’s face between his palms. When Alec finally opened his eyes, he felt his heart skip a beat. Magnus’s glamour had dropped. Staring back at Alec were two, beautiful green-gold cat eyes. The pupils were slitted, but noticeably dilated. He ran out of words. He stood there, gaping at Magnus for what felt like hours. Finally, Magnus tilted his head a bit, and smiled. A bright, genuine smile that made every doubt, every ache in Alec shrivel up; only to be replaced with the warm, comforting feeling of what could at best be described as deep, unmistakable affection. 

“Alexander,” Magnus sighed, swiping a thumb across one of Alec’s cheeks in a loving gesture, “you never cease to surprise me, my dear.” And then he stood up on his tip-toes to reach for Alec’s lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just love a good Lydia/Alec bromance. 
> 
> Sweet stuff first. Smut to come. 
> 
> (Also, I think it's a lil OOC for them to have sex so early on in their relationship, so I'm reeeaaaally gonna try playing on the heightened state of emotions that they're both in after Magnus' near death experience. Also, this is my fantasy anyways, so who cares right??)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is just me indulging. No one's first time is this skilled. Idc.
> 
> Thank you to my lovely beta reader, Maryliz2121, for helping me through this story.

Alec met him halfway, wrapping one arm around Magnus’ lower back, the other hand coming up to bury itself in his hair. He turned them slightly so that he could press Magnus up against the back of the counter. Then, using Magnus’ hair as leverage, he tilted the older man’s head back, changing the angle to accommodate for his height. This allowed for Alec to deepen the kiss, and he let his tongue tentatively trace the edge of Magnus’ lower lip. He felt Magnus sigh against his mouth which Alec assumed was subtle permission to prod a little deeper. 

As he allowed his tongue to finally make its way into Magnus’s mouth, he groaned. Magnus tasted like chai tea and sugar and something a bit richer that Alec couldn’t quite place his finger on. Just as he began to think he was getting the hang of having his tongue in another man’s mouth, Magnus delicately swiped at Alec with his own tongue and Alec shivered. This egged Magnus on, and he used his hold that he had on the young shadowhunter’s cheeks to tilt his head slightly to the left, allowing their lips to fit together completely. 

Given the new proximity, Alec’s teeth accidently caught on Magnus’s lower lip, and he felt Magnus take a sharp intake of breath. Before he could pull back and stutter out an apology, Magnus reached around with both hands to grab onto Alec’s hair, pulling him in even closer than before. He then bit down on Alec’s own lip and Alec immediately understood the other man’s reaction; he shuddered, trailing the hand that was on Magnus’s lower back around to his stomach, over the jut of his hip, and curling beneath his upper thigh. He felt Magnus smirk against him and then widened his stance, allowing Alec to fall deeper in between the warlock’s legs. This also meant that his entire torso was pressed up against Magnus’ and their hips were near-perfectly aligned. 

Alec felt intoxicated. He wasn’t really thinking through his actions and it seemed to him that Magnus wasn’t either. He didn’t think he could feel any hotter than he already was. Then, Magnus made a small, gyrating motion with his hips and Alec felt _everything_. Before he could think about what he was doing, he pulled his hand from Magnus’s hair and brought it down beneath Magnus’s other thigh. He lifted the man off the ground and up onto the edge of the countertop. Alec pushed himself as close as he could to the counter’s edge while simultaneously running his hands down the outer edges of Magnus’s thighs to the insides of his knees. He hooked his hands around the spot where Magnus’s legs were bent and pulled the man flush against his own body. Magnus used this as an opportunity to wrap his legs around the young man, opening the bottom of the robe completely. 

Alec gasped, breaking away from the kiss to give Magnus a dazed, wide-eyed gaze. 

“You’re not…” He trailed off, peeling himself back from Magnus far enough to glance in between their flushed bodies. He groaned, pressing his own hips against Magnus, experimentally.

Magnus just smiled, removing his arms from around Alec’s neck so that he could use them to support himself as he leaned back against the countertop. Alec watched, hungry-eyed, as Magnus rolled his shoulders back and stretched out his long torso in one smooth motion. His eyes fluttered closed and he rolled his head back a bit to expose his throat to Alec. Then, he meticulously clenched his leg-muscles tighter around the shadowhunter’s waist and ground his hips up, rubbing Alec’s very prominent, clothed hard-on against his bare skin. 

Alec’s brain completely short-circuited. Without thinking, he moved his hands from Magnus’ legs and wrapped his arms around the warlock’s lower back once more. This gave him the strength to pull Magnus up enough so that he could bring his lips to Magnus’s collarbone. Magnus sighed, tilting his head to the side to give Alec slightly better access, and raised his hips again. This caused Alec to bite down on Magnus’ skin and he felt a full-body shudder course through the older man. Alec kissed his way up Magnus’ throat, before going for another experimental nip on the man’s jugular, and felt Magnus’ hips make another stuttering motion against his own. 

“Magnus…” He breathed out against the man’s neck, binging his arms around to grasp the man’s hips. He meant to use the grip to grind his own hips against Magnus, but as soon as his hands clenched tighter against Magnus’ skin, he heard Magnus cry out, and not in a good way. Alec snapped his head up, letting go of Magnus’ hips immediately to cradle the man’s upper back. 

He searched Magnus’ face, frantically looking for any lingering signs of pain. 

“What’s wrong?” He huffed out, trying to catch his breath after the one-eighty that their make-out session had just taken. “What did I do?” 

Magnus brought one of his hands to Alec’s forehead, physically trying to smooth out the frown line that had formed there in concern. The other, he placed on Alec’s chest. 

“Hush.” He smiled, tilting his head a bit and sending Alec an amused look. “I’m just a little-” he coughed, smoothing his hands down to Alec’s forearms and pulling so that the young man had to unlock his grasp from around Magnus’ back. Once Magnus had both of Alec’s hands in his, he brought them down to the hem where his robe opened up to his skin. Using his own hands, he guided Alec’s grip and clamped both of their fingers onto the silk, pulling the robe apart to expose the entirety of Magnus’s torso. 

“Fragile.” Magnus finally finished, looking up at Alec through long, dark lashes. 

Alec’s breath caught in his throat as he stared down at Magnus’s body, partially in horror, partially in amazement. Magnus’ bruises had expanded since Alec found him. Deep, purple blotches took up the majority of Magnus’ usually tanned skin. While the primal, turned-on part of Alec was taking in Magnus’ near-naked state with a sort-of hunger, this was almost entirely overwhelmed by Alec’s need to sooth. He unlocked one of his hands from Magnus’ own, and delicately traced the outline of one of the bruises. He followed it all the way from the top of Magnus’ left rib to the cusp where the robe met Magnus’ skin. Magnus watched him curiously. 

Finally, after a few moments of gauging the state of Magnus’s beaten and bruised body, Alec brought his eyes up to meet Magnus’. Magnus could see the apology welling up in the young man’s throat and cut him off before he could get it out. 

“I’m fine, Alexander. I’m just a little low on magic, and Cat was focused on more… internal pains before her’s began to falter as well. In fact,” he gave Alec a coy grin, “I was just going to take a bath before you so rudely wined and dined me.” He giggled, and Alec tried to follow with his own, empty laugh, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Magnus noticed. 

“Hey,” Magnus whispered, returning to a more serious expression and using his thumb to soothe Alec’s hand with little, circular motions. “I’m okay, Alec. I’m okay. I even have an emergency potion for these types of things. It goes in the bath water and all I have to do is soak in it for a bit. It’ll clear everything right up.” He hoped his words would calm Alec’s guilt a bit, but the young man just broke eye-contact to stare down at their joined hands in shame. 

“Alexander,” Magnus cooed, leaning forward to press a kiss to the young man’s jawline, “darling, it’s okay. I’m okay-”

“But you weren’t.” Alec huffed out, shaking his head enough that Magnus’ lips got detached from his skin. “You weren’t, Magnus. God, I watched you-” He cut off, squeezing his eyes shut. “I could have stayed with you. I could have stayed, and stopped him and made sure you were… that you were okay and safe and now you’re… you’re-”

“Here now.” Magnus cut him off. Alec opened his eyes again to see Magnus giving him such a heartfelt look that it made his own heart seize up. “I’m here now, Alexander. I’m here and yes, we have a lot to talk about and a lot of decisions to make, but let’s just be here together, okay? Quit beating yourself up for one night, and just be here with me.” He smiled, pulling Alec flush against his body with his legs, for good measure. Despite himself, Alec let out a soft moan, feeling Magnus’ half-hard cock pressed up against him through his jeans. 

“Now,” Magnus began again in a cool, soft voice, “why don’t you,” he kissed his way up Alec’s neck, “take me,” he made his way across Alec’s jawline, “to the bathroom,” he stopped at Alec’s ear, breathing out against the juncture of Alec’s neck and jawline before finishing, “and take care of me there, hmm?” Magnus bit down at his earlobe before smoothing over the spot with his tongue immediately afterwards.

Alec didn’t even try to stop the low moan that escaped his throat, bending down to kiss along Magnus’ own neck. His hands moved to the knot at Magnus’ hips and untied it with confident, deft fingers. Once the knot was loose, he removed the tie completely and reached up to Magnus’ shoulders to run his hands down the man’s chest until he got to the edges of the robe. Then, in one swift motion, he parted the robe and let it fall to the wayside, exposing Magnus entirely. 

Alec leaned back and stared in awe. Magnus was… absolutely breathtaking. He was strong, but not strong in the same way Alec was. While Alec was built for brute force and endurance, Magnus was lean and powerful. His muscles shifted beneath his skin in one, smooth motion. Everything about him screamed elegance and grace, like a dancer. Magnus had a unique way of playing up the feminine qualities that gave him such striking beauty around his sharp eyes and soft cheeks. His lips, too, were very pouty and red, making him look a little more debauched than Alec was used to. 

But these softer, more elegant qualities were enhanced by the sharp contrast of the rest of Magnus that was so inanely masculine. His shoulders were broad, broader than Alec’s, and thick bands of muscle flowed from his neck, across his chest, and down his arms. His deep, russet skin seemed to cling to these areas of Magnus, enhancing the way the muscles seemed to shift under Alec’s very eyes. As Alec trailed his gaze lower, he was rewarded with a full set of taut, lithe abdominals and sharp hip bones. His thighs, which still clung to Alec as though he were a lifeline, were no less defined than the rest of the man. Alec could feel the strength in them as Magnus shifted his weight under Alec’s scrutiny, causing the muscles to ripple a bit under his skin.

Alec watched his own hands reach behind him at Magnus’ knees before trailing up the outside of the man’s thighs. Then, tentatively, he spread his fingers out, bringing the palms of his hands to the tops of Magnus’ thighs and letting his thumbs slide up his inner thighs. Slowly, he guided his hands the rest of the way up Magnus’ legs, his fingers resting against his hip bones while his thumbs nested themselves at the edge of Magnus’ pubic hair. It was coarse and curly and a lot softer than Alec’s own. He began making little circular motions with his thumbs, watching the hair curl up in little knots around Magnus’ cock. 

Magnus was watching him the whole time, breath hitching the moment Alec had reached the tops of his thighs. Alec glanced up at him then, silently asking permission. 

Magnus smirked.

“You’re a lot…” he trailed off when Alec’s thumb dipped marginally closer to the base of his cock. He huffed out a small, amused laugh, before finishing. “Braver than I anticipated… that is.” Magnus gulped, watching as Alec finally lifted one of his hands from the soft torture he’d been inflicting at the base of Magnus’s cock, only to reach up and run an experimental thumb across the slit at the top of his erection, smearing precum across the head. Magnus gasped, letting his head role back to give himself a break from watching Alec’s intense, lust-filled expression. “It seems you’ve-” he choked, letting out a soft whine as Alec trailed that same thumb down the long, thick vein on the underside of Magnus’ cock before coming back up to collect more precum on the pad of his thumb. He cleared his throat, and tried again. “It seems you’ve lost a lot of… inhibitions, as of late.” He finally looked up again, only to see Alec remove his thumb from the head of his cock and place it in his own mouth, sucking Magnus’ precum off like it was the most normal thing to do in a situation like this. As he did so, he looked up from beneath his lashes to watch Magnus’ reaction. 

For once in his life, Magnus was at a loss for words. 

Alec brought his thumb back down from his mouth and reached behind himself to unlock Magnus’ grip that his legs had formed around his waist. Then, without warning, he kneeled down so that he was at eye-level with Magnus’ cock. Magnus made no move to stop him. 

Alec used both hands to grip the underside of Magnus’ ass. He buried his face into the base of Magnus’ cock, taking a deep, loud breath through his nose. He smelled so much like _Magnus_ right there. Like sandalwood and burnt sugar and that slight, sulfuric scent that came with using magic. He took one more deep breath before propping his chin on Magnus’ pubic bone to look up at the older man. 

“I gave up a lot of things when I thought you were dead, Magnus.” He spoke clearly, certainty leaking into every word. And then he leveraged his knees a bit so that he could place his mouth over the spot that his thumb had just been.

Magnus yelped, but it quickly turned into a low, deep groan once Alec’s lips wrapped around the head of his cock and his tongue licked across the slit. Before Magnus could think to protest, knowing Alec probably had _no_ experience doing this and was bound to choke if he went too fast, Alec had swallowed up half of Magnus in one, quick motion. 

“Alexan-ahhh.” He couldn’t finish. Alec had used his tongue to make small, “come-hither” motions against the underside of his cock while he bobbed his head a bit. One of the hands that had been holding onto Magnus’ ass reached around to grab the base of his shaft. Alec moved his hand to the same tempo as his lips, and Magnus was pretty sure he was about to lose his damn mind. 

Magnus moved his hands to Alec’s hair, intending to pull him off before Magnus got too caught up in the sensation. Not getting the memo, Alec just groaned around his cock, reaching up with his own hand to cover Magnus’ before pushing down, indicating exactly what he wanted Magnus to be doing with his hands. 

“Ohmygod.” Magnus rushed out, fighting the internal battle of either throwing his head back in pleasure or allowing his eyes to remain glued to the sight of this beautiful, nephilim boy sucking his dick like a goddamn professional. He gave Alec’s hair an experimental little tug and felt the young man moan around his cock. Magnus felt the noise reverberate through his entire body and he couldn’t help the little thrust that his hips made in response. Alec finally, _finally_ , displayed a normal, human reaction to sucking dick for the first time in his life, and sputtered a bit around Magnus. However, before Magnus had the chance to finally spare him and pull out before he came (embarrassingly) quickly, Alec just readjusted his position and planted a firm, steady palm against Magnus’ uninjured hip, forcing him from making any more sporadic movements. Then, he just took Magnus deeper into his mouth and resumed his prior, steady motions. 

Before he knew it, the familiar coil of heat was tightening up in his stomach, and he began to pull at Alec’s hair, frantically. 

“Alec…” he warned, whining again as Alec pulled back a little to swirl his tongue around the tip of his erection. “Alexander I’m… I-”

Alec popped off to give him a heated, knowing look. His lips were red and puffy and he had saliva dribbling from the corner of his mouth. A small, thin string of spit followed Alec’s lips from the head of Magnus’ cock, and Magnus was sure he’d never seen anything more _erotic_. 

“Let me taste you.” Alec spoke in a raspy, deep voice, and then closed his eyes, leaning his head back in to continue his sinfully good blowjob. 

Magnus lost it. He grabbed onto the man’s hair with a renewed vigor and ground (unsuccessfully) up into his mouth. Alec kept Magnus firmly planted to the kitchen counter, but sped up his menstruations and hollowed out his cheeks so that Magnus could feel the smooth, slick walls of the inside of Alec’s mouth. Alec intuitively knew not to let his teeth nick Magnus’ skin, so he curled his lips around his teeth and bit down a little harder. This added pressure was enough to send Magnus over the edge, and he barely had time to yank Alec’s head back from the base of his cock before coming inside the more shallow area of Alec’s mouth. 

Alec was grateful for this, as the liquid was a lot thicker and of a higher abundance than he’d anticipated. However, because he only had the head of Magnus’ cock in his mouth, he could swallow it all down without sputtering. While the flavor wasn’t particularly wonderful (not that he’d expected it to be), the quivering, shaken look on Magnus’ face was worth every drop. 

When he was done, Magnus reached down to curl his hands under Alec’s biceps and pull him back up to his chest. He took a moment to breathe, burying his face in Alec’s chest and regaining what little composure he had left. Alec, in the meantime, ran his hands up and down Magnus’ back, wiping away the cooling sweat on Magnus’ body with his shirtsleeves. 

“How about that bath?” He murmured into the warlock’s hair, tightening his arms around his waist and pulling his pliant, warm body up against his own. 

“Yah,” Magnus huffed, smiling against the collar of Alec’s shirt, “yah, okay just let me… let me get that potion. Bathroom is the second door on your left.” He spoke, tilting his head towards the hallway entrance. Then, after a quick peck to Alec’s lips, he hopped off the counter and headed for the apothecary. 

Alec watched him walk away, shamelessly letting his eyes roam down the expanse of Magnus’ muscular back and into the dip above Magnus’ ass. He moved gracefully, confidently; like he was personally acquainted with every muscle in his body and thus had complete control over each of their actions. The dying light filtering through the kitchen windows created beautiful contours and shadows across the man’s skin as he moved. Before he turned to leave the kitchen, he looked back around at Alec to give the man a flirty wink before walking out of the room. 

***

Alec had his head leaned back against the edge of the tub. One of his arms was circled around the porcelain rim, keeping him from sinking too far into the water, the other was being held against Magnus’ stomach by one of Magnus’ own hands. Magnus was seated in between Alec’s legs, his back resting along the entirety of Alec’s torso. Their legs were spread out within the confines of the tub, curled up a bit so that one of Alec’s knees broke the surface of the water. Magnus had tangled their legs together as close as humanly possible, without it being uncomfortable. Magnus’ healing potion held a faint scent of tea tree and thieves oil, so the bath actually smelled pretty nice. He’d also added a few drops of lavender, for good measure. 

While Alec had been trying to figure out how to plug up the faucet and get the bath water running, Magnus had made them both peppermint tea. The mugs were sitting on a little, wooden table next to the tub, along with the empty potion vial and Alec’s stele. Alec made a dull note of how domestic the sight was, but tried not to linger on the thought too long. 

Candles were haphazardly placed around the edge of the tub, and the lights of the bathroom were dimmed. Magnus had an old record player sitting near the entrance of the hallway, and had magically enhanced it a few decades back to flip the vinyls on its own. The music coming from it now was old, Alec knew that much. It had to be at least before the forties, maybe even the thirties. Alec wasn’t quite sure. It was a small, subtle way to remind him, though, of exactly how old the warlock really was. 

When Magnus had finally made it into the bathroom earlier, he was shocked to see Alec had already stripped out of all of his clothes and was testing the temperature of the water with his feet. He nearly dropped the tea mugs there at the entrance, but quickly set them down to walk over and run his hands up Alec’s back. Alec turned, smiling over his shoulder at Magnus, before turning back to the water. 

Magnus was shocked. The young nephilim wasn’t even _kind of_ blushing. 

It wasn’t that Alec had suddenly sprouted some sort-of earth shattering confidence over the last few days, he just didn’t think much of his body in the first place. Nephilim were raised to be warriors. Everything about them, including their bodies, was utilitarian. He was built for strength, speed, and endurance. While Magnus was lithe and smooth and lean; Alec was made of sharp edges and pronounced structure. He was created for the soul intention of killing demons and demon spawn. Most nephilim (Izzy excluded) did not flaunt their bodies, but they weren’t shied away from either. They were weapons, and treated as such. 

So no, Alec did not blush when Magnus walked in on his naked form. He felt no shame in exposing himself so completely to the man, because his body was simply an extension of his bow, in his mind. 

What _did_ make him blush, however, was when Magnus finally turned him around, making eye contact with the young man before leaning in to give Alec a lingering kiss to the cheek. He moved closer, pressing Alec’s ass against the edge of the tub and let his hot breath trail over to the soft spot behind Alec’s ear. 

“Alexander,” he whispered, kissing the edge of Alec’s earlobe, “you, my darling, are absolutely beautiful.” 

He stepped back, eyeing Alec cautiously as the young man finally turned a light shade of pink. The flush spread from the center of his chest and up into his cheeks, taking up a permanent residence there as Alec purposefully avoided Magnus’ gaze. 

“Hmm.” Magnus noticed. Of course he did.

Magnus trailed his index finger down Alec’s sternum, across his stomach, and down to the tip of Alec’s half-hard cock. Alec didn’t even get a chance to react before Magnus looked back up at him, this time with the glamour completely down, and smirked. 

“Get in the tub, gorgeous.” 

Alec blushed an even deeper shade of pink, but turned to step into the large bathtub, and sat down, slowly, so as not to slip. He sat with his butt tucked up against the edge and had his knees curled into his chest. He laid his cheek down on one of his knees and watched as Magnus brought over the tea mugs, lit the candles, started the record player and finally, _finally_ , crawled into the tub with Alec. 

He started by sitting at the opposite end of the tub, pouring whatever concoctions he needed into the bath and swirling the water around, mixing the oils and water enough that Magnus could crawl over to Alec’s side. He gently unwrapped Alec’s hands from his knees and pulled the man’s long legs out of their fetal position by his calves. Once he had Alec’s legs spread out, Magnus turned around and scooted himself back until he was lying flush against Alec’s chest. While Alec _did_ just have the man’s dick in his mouth, this felt much more intimate. 

Now, after a few minutes of getting used to the feeling of being so close to the warlock, Alec was allowing himself to explore a bit. He had been running his hands up and down Magnus’ belly-buttonless stomach, coming back every few seconds to give Magnus’ palm a little, reassuring squeeze. Magnus, for his part, was leaned back against Alec’s chest. His head was tilted to the side so that the edge of his forehead was resting against the side of Alec’s jaw. Alec would turn every few minutes to kiss the top of Magnus’ head, before dropping his head back to rest against the wall that supported the tub. 

After a few more minutes, he decided to break the spell. 

“Who’s playing?” Alec asked, gently, trying not to disturb the atmosphere that Magnus had so meticulously built up. 

“Mmm,” Magnus murmured, turning his head to the side to give Alec’s jaw a small, close-mouthed kiss, before leaning back with a deep, relaxed sigh. “A band called ‘The Ink Spots’. You’ve probably never heard of them, my love.” He giggled, snuggling in even closer to Alec’s chest.

“They sound old.” Alec huffed out, laying a cheek against Magnus’ damp, loose hair. 

Magnus laughed. 

“They _are_ old. I believe, if my memory does not fail me, they debuted sometime in the early thirties.” 

“Hmm,” Alec smiled into his hair, “is that when you debuted as well?”

Magnus let out another soft chuckle. 

“Perhaps, though probably not in the century _you’re_ thinking of.”

Alec mulled over that for a few minutes. He shifted his weight to get a little more comfortable and barely contained a groan as he felt his half-hard cock slid up the crest of Magnus’ ass cheeks. He had been trying very hard the entire bath _not_ to be thinking of what was going on below the waist. He wanted Magnus to have a chance to relax. 

“I can change it.” Magnus sighed, raising one hand from the confines of the tub to snap his fingers. The record player clicked and Alec watched as the “Ink Drops” vinyl popped out, only to be replaced with another, large, similar disk. As the needle settled into place, a whiny, nasally voice made its way out of the tiny speakers on the side of the record player. Alec twitched. 

Magnus, of course, noticed his slight discomfort. 

“What, not a Nicks fan?”

Alec was confused by the question. 

“I don’t watch a lot of basketball.”

This earned him a snort from the warlock, before he snapped his fingers once more and the record player began to sift through a new album. 

“Not the sports team, young grasshopper; _Stevie_ Nicks. She’s an artist from the 70s.”

“Hmm, no. Kinda nasally. Sorry.” Alec replied, moving his menstruation on Magnus’ stomach up to the smooth planes of his chest. 

The next song to start up also sounded pretty old, but Alec liked it. It was smooth and deep. The melody carried well, even in the shitty acoustics of the bathroom. 

“What’s this?” He sighed, closing his eyes and sinking deeper into the tub. 

Magnus smiled. 

“Ahh, I knew you were a romantic at heart. “Moon River”; it originally debuted in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, but this version is sung by Frank Sinatra. Lucky for you, there’s about a million and one renditions of this song.” Magnus finished, stretching his arms out and up, wrapping them around the back of Alec’s neck to use it as leverage to stretch his back. Alec watched as Magnus’ chest rose above the surface of the water and then sank back down. Magnus settled further into his lap, but kept his hands behind Alec’s neck, playing with the little tufts of hair at his nape. 

“Does it make you uncomfortable?” Magnus asked, leaning his head back to rest on Alec’s shoulder. “How old I am, that is?” he clarified. 

It was Alec’s turn to laugh. 

“Not really,” he began, planting a kiss in the crook of Magnus’ neck, “my siblings always gave me a bunch of crap about being an old man. I suppose it makes sense that I’d end up with one… of sorts.” 

Magnus let out a small laugh, but didn’t fall into the teasing quite yet. 

“I’m serious,” he mumbled, turning to look at Alec’s soft, hazel eyes. “It doesn’t bug you? The… the experiences… the romances. The lives I’ve lived? The people I’ve loved? It’s overwhelmed many people before; I could understand if it overwhelms you.” He finished, turning his gaze from Alec in order to avoid the inevitable heartbreak. 

“Why are we talking about this right now?” Alec mumbled into Magnus’ shoulder. He had been enjoying the relaxing mood of the evening. 

“Best just to get all the demons out in the open before I fall in love with you.” Magus rushed out. He was definitely avoiding Alec’s gaze now. 

“Magnus…” Alec sighed. 

“I’m serious.” Magnus continued, “I mean, I’ve lived a lot of life; not all of it was good; everything with the Clave, Camille…” 

Alec huffed out a laugh, tightening his grip around Magnus’ chest so that the warlock could feel it vibrate throughout his entire body. 

“This isn’t-”

“I know it’s not funny.” Alec confirmed, cutting off his suspicions at the start. “I just-” let out another short, humorless chuckle, “we seem to be dealing with the same problem, just in a different context.”

“What do you mean?”

Alec sat for a minute, using the time to collect his thoughts and begin a new exploration of Magnus’ hips. He had both hands on their respective sides of Magnus’ body, thumbs circling around the older man’s hip bones. He felt Magnus shiver, even though the water was still scalding. 

“I suppose…” Alec trailed off, tilting his head in contemplation. “I suppose I’ve had a lot of time to think about this. The whole gay thing, that is.” He started, keeping his thumbs moving at a steady, periodic pace across the man’s hips. “And what I’ve finally discovered, or at least the conclusion that I’ve drawn is that, ultimately, who I choose to love does not define me.” He stopped again, turning to take a deep breath of Magnus’ hair, and mumbling the rest of his explanation against the cusp of Magnus’ ear. “What I mean by that is, at least in the Clave’s eyes, gay love is equivalent to gay sex. And gay sex equals a terrible, dirty shadowhunter. But, I’ve never even _had_ sex… ish. And yes, while my crush on Jace reared its head a few times throughout the day, it wasn’t, like, there my entire life. I wasn’t thinking about Jace as I became a good archer. Or learned Latin. Or taught Izzy how to use a seraph blade. My gayness literally did not touch my life the majority of the time. Yes, maybe I've been a little repressed in that I _couldn’t_ explore that part of myself much… but even now. Sitting here with you.” He smiled. “Being gay with you… it doesn’t make me any less of a man. It doesn’t define who I've been up to this point. And while I expect that you’ll change my life, ultimately for the better, I don’t believe you will change _me_. I don’t think you’ll change who I am.”

Alec paused, taking another deep breath before finishing his small soliloquy. 

“Falling in love with you… It will be wonderful and easy and an important experience in my life. But, it is not my entire life, if that makes sense. You’re not, like, all-consuming. I still have Izzy and Jace and Max. I have reading and archery and languages. Loving you, it’s important and wonderful and everything I’ve ever dreamed of… but, it’s not everything. Does that make sense?” 

Alec didn’t wait for a reply before, finally, tying it all together. 

“And the stuff with Camille? The Clave? Those are all parts of you. All the people you’ve loved and lost… those were parts of your life. But they aren’t, you know, your life as a whole. And whatever you’ve become… Magnus, the man that you are now. _That_ is who I want to fall in love with.” 

Magnus was staring at him in wide-eyed wonder by the end of his speech. It was almost intimidating how much adoration he felt pouring out of the warlock’s eyes. Before he knew what was happening, Magnus had turned around to straddle Alec’s lap and Alec felt Magnus’ half hard cock pressing into his stomach. As for his own, full-sized erection now, it was loosely pressed up in between Magnus’ ass cheeks. 

Alec groaned at the sudden friction. 

Magnus had begun attacking his throat with sloppy, open-mouth kisses. One hand inched its way up into Alec’s hair, using it to tilt Alec’s head to the side and give him better access to his throat. The other he used to drag across Alec’s chest and pinch one of the younger man’s nipples. Alec jolted, causing him to grind against Magnus’ ass and moan so loud the bathroom echoed a bit. His hands went to grab onto Magnus’ ass, and, without thinking, ground the older man down against his cock again. 

Magnus let out a soft, breathless whine and clamped his lips down on Alec’s neck, sucking a deep, purple bruise into the nephilim’s skin. 

They were feeding off of each other’s arousal. Alec would thrust against Magnus’ ass, causing Magnus to do something wildly sinful with his mouth, causing Alec to thrust, once again. Thrust, attack, repeat. Alec was beginning to lose all sense of himself. 

Magnus finally relented his one-man attack on Alec’s neck, only to come up to latch his lips against Alec’s. Alec groaned into the kiss, opening up immediately as Magnus began prodding his lower lip with his tongue. Permission granted, Magnus melted against the man, letting his mouth fall open and his tongue do sinful, delicious things to Alec’s own mouth. 

Alec felt warm and loose and relaxed. Heat was coiling in his stomach and spreading throughout the rest of his body. His limbs felt like jello, holding themselves up by a sheer act of will and lust. And Magnus? God, Magnus looked like every fantasy that Alec had closed himself off to over the past ten years. His wet, damp hair was sticking out in different tufts over his head. Beads of sweat and water ran down his throat and over his chest. The candlelight was doing wonders for his (now completely healed) skin. He was absolutely beautiful.

At that moment, Magnus leaned back to finally allow Alec to breathe. It didn’t work, because the moment Magnus detached his lips, Alec opened his eyes to large, lust-blown cat eyes. They almost glowed in the dimly lit room.

“What do you want, Alexander?” He asked sinfully, running a hand down Alec’s damp chest and playing with the small tufts of hair growing near his left nipple. 

Alec eyed his movements as he thought about his next move. He felt so warm, enveloped in the sweet, scented water and Magnus’ strong embrace. He felt relaxed and happy and so turned on it was borderline painful. He wanted to always feel like this; tangled up so deep with Magnus that he never felt like coming up for air again. Everything smelled and tasted and _felt_ like Magnus. He needed more of that.

“I want to be inside of you.” 

It slipped out before he could even wrap his head around the thought, and what that would entail, exactly. But, before he could begin to sink too far down into that rabbit hole, Magnus _moaned_ , grinding himself down onto Alec and throwing his head back in pleasure. 

And suddenly, it didn’t feel unnatural at all. In fact, wanting to be in Magnus felt like the most natural thing in the world. The feeling of wanting Magnus, _needing_ him on top of Alec, around Alec, beneath Alec. That all-consuming feeling that Alec felt would be similar to when Magnus had taken power from him… a shared joy and lust and deep, unabiding affection. Alec wanted that _desperately_. He wanted, no _needed_ , to feel how _alive_ Magnus truly was. 

Taking a bold leap-of-faith, Alec pushed forward a bit, urging Magnus to wrap his legs around his waist with his hands and leaning down to whisper into the older man’s ear: 

“Hold on." 

Then, using every bit of shadowhunter strength and balance that he could muster without runes, he hoisted Magnus out of the tub, and stepped out onto the bathmat. Meanwhile, Magnus wrapped his arms around Alec’s neck and had resumed his light, teasing kisses down Alec’s throat. Alec carried him through the bathroom and out into the hall. He vaguely remembered where the warlock’s room was, having watched him pop into his bedroom briefly during the night of Luke’s recovery. Luckily, his memory served him well, and he toed the bedroom door open and walked over to the foot of the bed. He sent a quick prayer to the angels that the silky, red duvet wasn’t _too_ expensive, as they were both soaking wet, before laying Magnus across the bed. 

Magnus looked up at him, glamour still off, and keened. He stretched his arms out above his head and arched his back, almost cat-like in his movement. 

Alec was losing his fucking mind. 

He grabbed Magnus by his inner thighs and spread his legs open as far as they would go (it was pretty far). Then, he settled himself between Magnus’ thighs, going for familiarity and kissing the man across his collarbone. With a sigh, Magnus snapped his fingers and shoved a small bottle of lube into Alec’s hand. 

Alec stopped, finally coming face-to-face with the consequences of his prior words. 

“You’re going to have to help me.” He swallowed thickly, glancing up at Magnus with a fearful, determined look. “I’ve never done this before and I don’t want to hurt you…” 

Magnus gave him a soft, understanding smile. 

“Alexander…” He sighed, reaching up to cradle Alec’s face. He always held Alec like he was the most precious thing he’d ever touched. Like he was valuable. 

_Like he was loved._

“We’re going to do this,” he brought Alec’s lips down to his, “together. Okay?” 

Magnus wrapped his arms around Alec’s neck and began to lie back, pulling Alec on top of him. 

It was different, on the bed. Alec’s senses had been dulled in the bath; the surrounding water had matched Magnus’ body heat, making it feel less intimidating being so close to the man. But here: with their bodies still wet and cooling in the room-temperature atmosphere, the silk sheets not quite warmed up to their bodies, the only thing Alec could focus on was _Magnus_. Magnus’ warm, bruised lips. Magnus’ strong, hot body pressed up against him. Magnus’ hands, reaching down to encompass Alec’s own and bring them down to his- 

_Oh._

Alec shuddered, laying completely atop the older man and grabbing his ass with both hands. He kneaded the soft flesh while Magnus reached behind him to grab one of his (many) pillows and brought it down to place beneath his lower back. He reached for one of Alec’s hands and squirted some of the lube that the nephilim had been holding onto Alec’s fingers. Then, not breaking eye contact with Alec, he guided the younger man’s hand down his stomach and between his legs. 

“One at a time.” He spoke clearly, understanding Alec’s need for support. “I’ll tell you when to start adding more.” Without another word, he removed his own hand from Alec’s and leaned back against the mountain of pillows, watching. 

Waiting. 

Alec swallowed, and decided to start with something he knew. He bent down, kissing across the planes of Magnus’ stomach and down to the curve of his hip. When he got to a hip bone, he nipped at it, gently, causing a soft hiss to escape Magnus’ mouth. Alec used the momentary distraction to bring one of his fingers up to the rim of Magnus’ hole and began softly, almost timidly, prodding against the edge. 

Magnus groaned, sinking deeper into the pillows and finally allowing his eyes to close. 

Surprisingly, this helped. Alec could focus more on what he was doing and less on Magnus’ intense gaze. He began circling his finger around the edge, trying to remember the way he liked it the few times he had done this to himself in the shower. It was easier here; Alec had a full view and better angles to work with. 

After a few moments of allowing Magnus to get used to the feeling, Alec finally slipped the tip of his index finger in and gasped. It was so… _warm_. Alec was still trying to conceptualize the idea of being a part of that. Of being a part of Magnus. 

Magnus also shuddered, moving his hips down slightly to chase the feeling of having Alec’s finger inside of him. 

“Alec, darling,” he whispered, eyes closed and a forearm thrown across his forehead. The other hand had balled up some of the silk duvet cover in a tight fist. “I am not delicate. You can go a little harder.” He said it so matter-a-fact, like it wasn’t adding fuel to the flames in Alec’s lower abdomen. 

Alec swallowed. 

Then, without warning, he shoved the rest of his finger into Magnus’ ass, going as far as his knuckle would allow. Magnus jolted, throwing his arm out and gripping the sheet with his other hand. 

“Alexander.” He moaned, moving his hips a bit to show Alec _exactly_ what he wanted that finger to be doing. Wrecked as he was, Magnus still moved in one, fluid motion. Alec watched as the man rolled his hips around Alec confidently, trying to remember how to breathe, but it was becoming increasingly difficult when Magnus _did_ things like that. 

Alec started slowly, pulling in and out, trying different angles, all the while watching Magnus slowly fall apart under his very hands. 

It was exhilarating. 

Magnus eventually huffed out the okay for another finger and Alec slipped it in without warning. This caused Magnus to clench up a bit before immediately falling back onto the pillows with a low moan. Alec couldn’t help his own, deep groan that followed, reacting instinctually to the way Magnus was unraveling beneath him. Magnus was so warm and tight and everything he had never thought he’d be allowed to have. 

He moved his mouth to the base of Magnus’ cock, not really intending to do much since so much of his concentration was focused on lower areas of the man’s body, but he slowly mouthed his way up Magnus’ shaft. It caused the other man’s eyes to shoot open and watch, slack-jawed, as Alec kissed Magnus’ cock with sloppy, open-mouthed kisses while still scissoring him with two fingers. 

“Oh my… Oh my God.” Magnus’ breath caught on the last word as Alec’s finger brushed against his prostate. Alec noticed, moving his fingers on the next thrust so that they could brush up against the spot again. 

Magnus shuddered. 

“Alec…” He whined. Alec didn’t need Magnus to tell him this time. He brought the third finger in a little slower than the second, giving Magnus time to adjust. But, eventually, he had three fingers pumping in and out of Magnus and was watching with increasing interest as Magnus whined and cried and threw his head back against the mattress multiple times. It was amazing, watching this strong, powerful warlock fall apart, all because of Alec. 

“Alec,” Magnus cried again, looking at him again with that lust-drunk gaze, “Alec, _please_.” Magnus whined, pressing his hips down so that all three of Alec’s fingers were knuckle deep. “Please.” He repeated. 

“Please what?” Alec gasped, trying to formulate a sharp enough thought to plan for the next step. “Magnus, what…” He looked at Magnus then. He was sweaty and lax and completely undone. Everything about him was pliant and soft, except for his eyes. His cat eyes were giving him a heated, intense look. 

“Alexander,” he drawled, bringing his hand down to cup Alec’s cheek. Alec leaned into the touch, letting his free hand come up to cover Magnus’ own hand with his. But Magnus was still giving him a look that one could only describe as _starving_.

“Fuck me.”

Alec’s eyes shot open completely. He pulled his fingers out of Magnus with a quick “pop” and lunged for the older man. He wiped his hand on the sheets as he crawled up and positioned himself so that his hips sat right between Magnus’ legs. He kissed Magnus with deep, aching intent; feeling exhilarated and nervous all in one breath. Alec kept eye contact with Magnus as he reached down to guide the head of his cock to Magnus’ entrance, and then slowly began to push himself inside. 

Alec _groaned_.

His eyes fluttered shut as he was encompassed by Magnus. He felt everything he’d been feeling over the past few days: fear, adrenaline, confusion. But, he also felt warm and light and tight in his chest where he was sure that his heart was beating ten times faster than normal. He spared a glance down at Magnus’ cat eyes and felt that tight feeling unravel a bit. It was replaced with a softer, more tender feeling that Alec still couldn’t quite put his finger on…

Without warning, Magnus’ hips canted up, causing Alec to be completely buried in the older man. He couldn’t help the high pitched whine he made as Magnus began making soft, circular motions with his hips while Alec was still fully sheathed inside of him. 

“Magnus I-” He groaned again, pulling out ever-so-slightly, only to press himself back in even harder. This time, Magnus was the one to moan. “Angel.” Alec breathed, wrapping his arm around Magnus’ lower back so that he had something to keep him grounded. Everything else in him felt like it was floating. 

He started to move, slowly at first, but building a steady, rhythmic pace after a few minutes. The noises Magnus made were _delicious_. Alec was quick to learn that Magnus held nothing back; he was a vocal and rather _loud_ man to make love to. It only served to turn Alec on more than he already was. 

Eventually, Magnus tapped his hip with a free hand, indicating that his muscles were starting to cramp up in his stomach. 

_Oh right._ Alec thought with a sudden stab of self-loathing. He had been so caught up in his own pleasure that he’d forgotten about how weak a state Magnus was still in. Before he could begin mulling over those thoughts for too long, Magnus pulled off of him and rolled over onto his stomach, moving the pillow so that it lay beneath his lower abdomen. He then spread his legs, looking over his shoulder to smirk at Alec from his new position. 

Alec’s mouth went completely dry. From this position, Alec could see _everything_. He positioned himself at Magnus’ entrance again and sucked in a breath as he watched himself get completely engulfed by the warlock. This position allowed for Alec to go even deeper than before, which the young nephilim hadn’t even thought was possible. 

Magnus made soft, mewling noises as Alec began thrusting again and Alec knew he wasn’t going to last much longer. Not in this position. Not with Magnus practically crying into the pillow as Alec pounded into him with a newfound rigor. Not when he could see himself fucking into Magnus at each thrust, making his head spin and his mouth start to water. 

Alec leaned down to wrap his arms around Magnus’ chest, using his knees to steady himself as he tried to keep his rhythm. He tried burying his moans into Magnus’ shoulder, but he was too far gone to check if they were properly stifled. Magnus reached one of his hands back to Alec’s ass, grabbing on to help the man keep a hard, rhythmic pace. 

Magnus could tell what was happening before Alec. He twisted his hips a bit, allowing for Alec’s next thrust to sink him in at a different angle and causing him to moan loudly into Magnus’ ear. 

“Magnus I-” He panted, trying to remember how to use proper English whilst he was buried balls-deep in, quite possibly, the hottest man he’d ever laid eyes on. “I think I’m-”

“ _Yes._ ” Magnus moaned, moving his hips up to meet Alec’s once again. “Yes, darling, come for me. Come _inside_ me, Alexander.”

Alec shuddered, trying to hold out for Magnus as long as he could, but Magnus did that thing with his hips again, twisting his head so that Alec was staring directly into those gold-green cat eyes and Alec _lost_ it. He buried himself in Magnus as deep as he could before stuttering out his orgasm. Everything around him felt warm and light and smelled like Magnus and tasted like Magnus and felt like Magnus. He felt, for the first time in his life, like everything was falling perfectly into place. 

_I belong here._ he thought, in a deep, hazy state. _I belong here. With you._

As he came down, he felt Magnus petting his hair and whispering soothing strings of sentences to him, most of them not entirely in English. Alec panted against the back of Magnus’ neck before slowly sliding back along the older man’s sweat-slicked body. As he moved to pull out though, he stilled. 

The little motions he’d made that caused him to fall out of Magnus had brought with it Alec’s own cum. Alec watched in fascination as he moved against Magnus’ backside, the cum slowly dripping out and running down the inside of Magnus’ thigh. It was so… so… _filthy._ Magnus was sobbing and wrecked and dripping with cum and _Alec_ , of all people, had done that to him. It was absolutely intoxicating. 

Alec had a thought then. A deep, primal, _dirty_ thought, but before he could think to hone it in, Magnus moaned into the pillows and ground himself into the sheets. 

“Alexander…” He heard, watching Magnus’ fists clench and unclench in the bedsheets. Magnus was _begging_ him. Begging _him_. Magnus felt hot and sticky under the palms of Alec’s hands and his hair was a total mess. Alec was sure the man was beginning to feel residual aches from the past few days, as well as new aches from the past few hours and Alec… Alec wanted to take care of him. Alec wanted to make him feel as special and important and loved as he’d made Alec feel the moment they met. Magnus had been so considerate of everything Alec had been feeling over the past few weeks, and for once, Alec wanted to make him feel just as cherished as he’d been made to feel. 

He could do this for Magnus. He _wanted_ to do this for Magnus. 

Alec glanced back down where he was still halfway buried inside of the man, and before he could talk himself out of it, he pulled out as quickly as he could before leaning down to lick a broad, wet stripe across Magnus’ entrance. 

Magnus cried out. 

“Alec!” He panted, reaching his hand back at lighting speed to grip the young man’s hair and yank his head back far enough to look at him. Alec saw lust and surprise and… awe? But not anger. Magnus wasn’t angry. “You don’t have to…” Magnus spoke frantically, searching Alec’s face for any indication that he was in any way uncomfortable. “I mean,” he gulped, “I don’t expect you to…” 

Alec covered the hand gripping the back of his head with his own, and smiled. 

“Trust me.” He rasped out, realizing how much the moaning from earlier had scratched up his vocal cords. He pushed with his own hand, letting Magnus feel him guide his head back in between his ass cheeks. “I want to.” He whispered, breathing across Magnus’ hole in a soft, warm puff before reaching out with his tongue to take a tentative, but firm, swipe. The tip of his tongue caught the edge of Magnus’ rim and Magnus _cried_. Alec was suddenly hearing every string of adoration in every language known to man falling from Magnus’ lips. 

This was encouraging, and Alec placed a soft, sweet kiss against the hole, watching it flutter and leak more of Alec’s own cum out in the process. Alec licked it up immediately, causing Magnus to grind his hips into the sheets again. It was… really hot. Alec tasted his own cum mixed with the earthy, lingering scent that could only be described as _Magnus_. It tasted like _them_. Alec brought his hand up to wrap around Magnus’ leaking cock, offering some sort-of friction for the warlock. Alec could tell he was close, and prayed this would be enough to tip him over the edge. 

He prodded with his tongue again, licking around the entire rim before plunging in with a quick, sharp motion. More cum was falling out and Alec felt messy and debauched, but the noises Magnus was making were absolutely _sinful_. Alec kept at his menstruations, licking and prodding and practically trying to eat the man from the inside out until he was sure there was no cum left. Even then, he stayed, sneaking a finger in alongside his tongue to help search for-

“Alec!”

Found it. 

Alec smiled around his tongue, but kept licking around the rim while he used his finger to make a “come-hither” motion against Magnus’ prostate. When he felt the warlock finally begin to clench around his finger and tongue, Alec reached out with his free hand to grab one of Magnus’ own hands from its tight grip on the sheets. 

He pulled Magnus’ hand to the back of his head, pushing against it softly to show Magnus what to do. 

Magnus got the memo. 

He pressed Alec’s face into his ass and Alec groaned around his ministrations. That was the last straw for Magnus. He came with a deep, lengthy shudder while gripping Alec’s hair so hard it stung. Then, he fell into the sheets, not even bothering to try and avoid the mess he’d just made on his (very expensive) duvet. 

Alec sat back on his haunches, moving to wipe the cum and spit and lube from his face with the sheets, but Magnus turned slightly, reaching with one hand to tug the nephilim boy flush against his body. Without thinking twice, Magnus surged forward to give Alec a wet, sloppy, open-mouthed kiss, licking inside the young man’s mouth to taste the residual cum. It was the hottest thing Alec had ever done. 

When Magnus finally pulled back, letting them both catch their breath, he looked at Alec with cloudy, blown-out pupils. 

“That was…” Magnus began, shaking his head to clear his thoughts, “that was the most… romantic thing anyone has ever done for me.” he finished, looking at Alec like he hung the moon. Alec just laughed. 

“Well,” he murmured, tucking Magnus’ face into the crook of his neck and hitching the man’s leg around so that he was spooning Alec’s side. “It was no ‘Moon River’, but…” he trailed off as Magnus began to laugh. His chuckles came out as warm, little huffs against Alec’s neck and Alec beamed. He planted a droopy, slack-mouthed kiss against Magnus’ forehead before closing his eyes, falling asleep with that warm, lightweight feeling still residing in his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am never writing a 10k sex scene again; that shit was like running a marathon. 
> 
> Let me know if you liked the ending, or if you'd like me to wrap this up some other way. I'm open to suggestions.


End file.
